KIEV, May 20 – A wave of political confrontation was looming Wednesday after Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko attacked Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, calling for the dismissal of President Viktor Yushchenko’s last ally in the government.

Tymoshenko, citing figures released by the government’s watchdog, accused the ministry of corruption, suggesting that food suppliers have been overcharging the army. She also questioned the ministry’s practice of selling excessive land plots.

“As the prime minister, I looked through all the evidence and can point to unprecedented corruption behavior with budget funds,” Tymoshenko said. “This is my personal conclusion that I have the right to.”

Tymoshenko said she will submit the evidence to Yushchenko and ask him to submit the dismissal motion to Parliament.

The president nominates – and seeks dismissal – for two ministers in the government: the foreign minister and the defense minister. Tymoshenko – without Yushchenko’s approval - earlier this year joined forces with pro-Russian opposition groups to dismiss Yushchenko’s pro-Western foreign minister Volodymyr Ohryzko.

Yushchenko on Wednesday dismissed Tymoshenko’s pressure to remove Yekhanurov as politically motivated, and warned the development jeopardized the capacity of the government may lead to the new wave of political confrontation.

“This is a political PR-exercise, a political move aimed at rocking the situation and in fact depriving the manageability from the system of power,” Yushchenko said. “I do not advice the prime minister or Parliament to make such moves because this would lead to the confrontation.”

The defense minister – and Yushchenko as the Commander-in-Chief - controls the 160,000-strong army, the ultimate military force, which may be the major asset ahead of the next presidential election if the political situation gets out of control.

The dismissal of Yekhanurov may cause just another vacancy at the government and may provoke serious governance issues in Ukraine as the country goes through severe economic crisis.

There are currently three vacancies in the government, including the key posts of the finance minister, the foreign minister and the deputy prime minister for economy.

Tymoshenko does not control the majority in Parliament, which explains her inability to appoint the key positions in the Cabinet, but she can easily dismiss Yekhanurov by joining forces with pro-Russian groups, analysts said.

Tymoshenko unleashed the attack after KRU, the government’s financial watchdog, had delivered the report on the alleged corruption in the defense ministry. KRU is led by Mykola Syvulskiy, Tymoshenko’s ally since 1996 when she had controlled a lucrative $10-billion natural gas trading operation.

Yekhanurov, who has been frequently opposing Tymoshenko’s controversial economic decisions, on Wednesday dismissed the allegations. He urged Tymoshenko to submit KRU’s findings to the Prosecutor General’s Office for the investigation.

“The fault of the Defense Ministry, dear friends, is that it’s a [presidential] election campaign and there is no way out of it,” Yekhanurov said. “An order has been given to attack, so it’s underway.”

Meanwhile, Ihor Rybakov, a lawmaker from the Tymoshenko group, on Wednesday submitted a motion to Parliament seeking to dismiss Yekhanurov. (tl/ez)