Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Ukraine Parliament Brings Down Government

Updated 12:56 PM ET December 1, 2004

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By ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko agreed to lift his followers' siege of government buildings in face-to-face talks Wednesday with his rival for the presidency aimed at resolving the country's spiraling political crisis.

Yushchenko signed a compromise agreement with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych that also calls for talks on changes in the Ukrainian law to end the election crisis.

The deal came hours after Ukraine's parliament brought down Yanukovych's government with a no-confidence motion Wednesday in a show of the opposition's strength.

Hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko supporters have been in the streets, claiming fraud in the Nov. 21 run-off election that officials said Yanukovych won. The opposition backers have blockaded government buildings, paralyzing the work of Ukrainian authorities, and have set up a tent city in Kiev's main thoroughfare. It was not immediately known if Wednesday's deal also called for the lifting of the tent city.

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