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Ukraine needs no mediation to resolve crisis - ministry

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Ukraine needs no outside mediation to resolve its political crisis, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.
KIEV, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine needs no outside mediation to resolve its political crisis, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The statement came a day after Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said he had asked Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and other Western officials for assistance in resolving the crisis.

"Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk made public the ministry's official position on April 5 following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council that no decision has been made on the mediation request to settle Ukraine's internal political crisis," the ministry said.

Yatsenyuk, President Viktor Yushchenko's ally, also said Thursday that although Ukraine highly valued the international concerns over the situation in the country, non-interference in internal affairs of a state was a fundamental principle of international law.

Unlike the president and his supporters in the Cabinet, who said the current conflict was a domestic affair, Yanukovych refused to rule out requests for help from Russia, its historic ally which said it was ready to help if Kiev requested it, and Poland, an ally in Ukraine's European integration aspirations.

"As soon as we have made a decision, we will approach the presidents of the neighboring states, Russia and Poland, and possibly others," Yanukovych said.

Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski, said Thursday Warsaw would provide help. "If Ukrainian authorities express their willingness [to ask for help], we will undoubtedly agree to discuss the issue," he said.

And Polish newspaper Gazetà Wyborczà said Friday that negotiations were underway to appoint former president Aleksander Kwasniewski special envoy to represent Kaczynski at talks between Yushchenko and Yanukovych, seeking to forge a compromise between the president and parliament.

The latest twist in the political crisis - simmering since Yanukovych's return as premier last August and an uneasy power-sharing deal with the pro-presidential forces - was triggered after 11 lawmakers defected to the ruling coalition March 23.

The defectors brought the coalition closer to a 300-seat majority that would have allowed it to amend the Constitution and made it immune to presidential vetoes.

Yushchenko responded by signing a decree to dissolve parliament and call early elections, but parliament defied, considering the order unconstitutional.

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