KIEV, Ukraine -Viktor Yushchenko will be sworn in Sunday as president of Ukraine, completing his Orange Revolution. After weeks of political turmoil, he defeated the Kremlin-backed candidate at the polls and survived a mysterious poisoning plot.
Lawmakers yesterday hurriedly scheduled the inauguration in a decision that came hours after Yushchenko cleared the last of a series of legal obstacles that had arisen since the Dec. 26 election, including an appeal filed in the Supreme Court by loser Viktor Yanukovych.
Yanukovych, the former prime minister, had been supported by the Kremlin over Yushchenko, who aims to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union and NATO. But Russian President Vladimir Putin issued quick congratulations to Yushchenko, whose team said he would make a working visit to Moscow on Monday.
On state television, Yanukovych predicted Yushchenko would be unable to maintain good relations with Russia and he declared he would stay in politics to lead the opposition.
I'll do everything I can to restore justice
he said. The 'orange nightmare' will not last long.
The huge pro-Yushchenko demonstrations in Kiev, with many people wearing his orange campaign colors, began after the Nov. 21 election in which Yanukovych was declared the winner. The Supreme Court annulled that result because of widespread fraud, and Yushchenko won the Dec. 26 court-ordered rerun balloting by about 8 percentage points.
The inauguration is set for noon Sunday Jan. 23
parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said as dozens of pro-Yushchenko deputies applauded.
Acting Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced that the government would offer its resignation immediately after the inauguration, the Interfax news agency reported.
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