Ukraine's prime minister claims a decree by his rival President Viktor Yushchenko setting a new date for a parliamentary election, has damaged trust between the two and dimmed hope for their future ties.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has long been at odds with Mr Yushchenko, the man who humiliated him in the 2004 "Orange Revolution", and has opposed his drive to hold a new parliamentary election.
In an announcement last night, the pro-Western Mr Yushchenko rescheduled the vote for June 24th on grounds that the majority coalition in parliament was illegitimate.
In a first decree issued earlier this month, he had accused the coalition of illegally enticing his allies to defect to its ranks, and dissolved parliament, setting the election for May 27th.
Mr Yushchenko's new announcement surprised politicians after he and Mr Yanukovich had agreed in talks to abide by a court ruling on the first decree and shown readiness to compromise, especially on a later election date.
"This decree surprised me very much, as did the first one. This undermines all agreements which were worked out after the first decree," Mr Yanukovich told reporters in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent.
"Such actions do not engender respect and do not give hopes for the future. I would like to look the president in the eye."
Mr Yanukovich returned to Kiev after cutting short his stay in the ex-Soviet state.
No record of formal agreements was made public after the talks on the first decree and a challenge by Mr Yanukovich and his allies against it in the Constitutional Court.
The country's opposition leaders, including fiery former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who had lobbied hardest for a new election, voiced approval for the new decree.
Mr Yushchenko's resolve on dissolving the assembly and holding a new poll has done him no harm in boosting poll ratings which had tumbled to single figures since the "Orange Revolution".
An opinion poll issued this week showed his rating had shot up to just over 20 per cent, still behind Yanukovich at 34.5 per cent but in front of Tymoshenko on 16 per cent.
Dominated by the prime minister's allies, parliament was cautious in passing a resolution on the new decree and limited its criticism, saying only that it "lacked any legal basis".
Taras Choronovil, a member of Mr Yanukovich's majority coalition, suggested its members could launch impeachment proceedings against Mr Yushchenko. But another senior party member said the coalition had no such plans and would consider asking the Constitutional Court again for a ruling on the new decree.