Action moves inside from Kiev’s streets

Ukranian Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe chief Jan Kubis and Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and are also involved in the negotiations.

As efforts to end the crisis continued, hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko supporters continued rallies in Kiev’s Indepennce Square for the fifth day. Demonstrators barred entry to main government offices, Parliament and presidency, sealing off approach roads to traffic by blocking them with buses or human chains.

Beore the talks started, Yanukovich hit out at Yushchenko by appealing to his followers in Kiev to avert an ‘‘unconstitutional coup’’.

‘‘Dear friends, together we must do everything so that an unconstitutional coup in Ukraine does not happen,’’ Yanukovich told supporters chanting his name. Most were young men brought to Kiev by train from the Donbass coalfield in his power base —— the Russian-speaking east.

President Leonid Kuchma, who is hosting the negotiations, also got into the act, asking Yushchenko supporters to end the ‘‘so-called revolution.’’

The Ukrainian Central Election Commission gave victory to Yanukovich on Thursday but the Supreme Court is scheduled to examine an appeal by Yushchenko on Monday. The Supreme Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, will meet in an extraordinary session on Saturday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that some states were trying to take situation beyond legal limits. ‘‘Moscow is concerned about attempts by individual countries to take the situation in Ukraine beyond the limits of the law,’’ he said referring to criticism of the poll results by the US and EU.