Ukrainian opposition protesting on Kiev streets and blocking government buildings since the second round of presidential election November 21 has issued new demands to President Leonid Kuchma -- to dismiss the country's Prosecutor General and Interior Minister and to offer the governors of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Trans-Carpathian, and Sumy regions to resign.

Parliament speaker Vladimir Litvin said the oppositionist bloc Our Ukraine had made the demands at a meeting of the so-called conciliatory council of factions and deputy groups that opened in the Verkhovna Rada, the national parliament.

This means a gross expansion of the list of demands, as fairly recently the oppositionists demanded only three things -- a resignation of the government, changes among the Central Electoral Commission, and amendments to the law on presidential election that would rule out electoral fraud.

The opposition is indignant over the activity of the above-said five regions, as the authorities and vast majority of people living there did not support the oppositionist actions and took counter moves like taking off the air of the programs of Kiev-based pro-opposition TV channels.

Also, representatives of some of the five regions attended a special congress in the town of Severodonetsk, where a counter-demand was made to transform Ukraine into a federation.

Speaker Litvin said President Leonid Kuchma was ready to come to parliament and sign the amended laws on political reforms and presidential elections.

Kuchma also made known his consent to dismissing the government and rotating the members of the Central Electoral Commission. He said, however, he could do it only after the oppositionists lifted the blockade of government buildings.

Source: Itar-Tass