Ukraine: Not all has gone to plan since last year's Orange Revolution, writes Chris Stephen in Moscow.
Ukrainians watching the TV news last week could be excused trying to adjust their sets: there before their eyes was the sight of the country's most bitter rivals, President Viktor Yushchenko and former prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, joining hands in parliament.
Mr Yanukovich is blamed for trying to poison Mr Yushchenko last year and rig a presidential election, but the two men have now formed an electoral alliance to create a new government, due to be announced tomorrow.
Their new prime minister, Yuri Yekhanurov, a regional governor, has promised that this week's new cabinet will contain technocrats committed to reform. However, the events of the past month have left many wondering whether such reforms can stay on track with the break-up of the team that brought Ukraine the Orange Revolution.
At the start of the month, Mr Yushchenko's chief of staff Oleksandr Zinchenko resigned, accusing senior government figures of being as corrupt as the former regime.
Then Mr Yushchenko's key adviser, TV magnate Petro Poroshenko, quit his post, and finally Mr Yushchenko sacked Yulia Tymoshenko and her entire cabinet, saying he had lost confidence in their ability to govern.
With Ukraine's notoriously fractious parliament in disarray and refusing to agree a new prime minister at the start of last week, Mr Yushchenko reached out to the only man able to deliver, Mr Yanukovich, and his Party of Regions. Mr Yushchenko announced: "It's time to bury the war hatchet." He shook hands with his adversary.
The result is a political alliance that has left ordinary Ukrainians bewildered. "This alliance of Yanukovich and Yushchenko will dismay their supporters," thundered the normally pro-government newspaper Ukraine Moloda. "This means that once more, east and west, business and power will be mixed up. Many of those who stood on Independence Square will view this as a betrayal."
Meanwhile, question marks remain over Ukraine's stalled reforms. Ms Tymoshenko had been the prime mover behind an ambitious programme to re-examine privatisations by the previous regime of Mr Yanukovich. These included the sale, at half price, of steel giant Kryvovizhstal to Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of former president Leonid Kuchma. This mill is up for auction again at the end of October and it will be seen as a key test of the government's commitment to free enterprise.
A second test will be its willingness to investigate the evidence of corruption that Mr Zinchenko had provided.
This weekend, chief prosecutor Svyatoslav Piskun insisted all leads would be followed up, but added cryptically that the information would be passed to the president, making no mention of whether that would lead to prosecutions.
Mr Yushchenko is also under pressure after allegations in the media that exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky bankrolled the Orange Revolution, allegations the businessman has denied.
Finally, Mr Yushchenko, having sacked the last government, will now have to prove that this new "technocratic" administration can halt his country's recent decline.
Since Mr Yushchenko took power, economic growth has slowed from 12 per cent to 6 per cent, inflation is rising and opinion polls show those thinking the country is on the right track have slumped from 43 per cent in April to 23 per cent now.
This month's bloodletting may be the start of fresh instability. Ms Tymoshenko remains a powerful figure, particularly in western Ukraine, and she has committed herself to fighting for power in parliamentary elections in six months' time. These elections have added significance, because with them will come constitutional changes moving power from president to parliament.