Ukrainian crisis: Polish President offers to mediate

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski will mediate in a third round of Ukrainian crisis talks due to get under way on Monday, his aide sai...

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski will mediate in a third round of Ukrainian crisis talks due to get under way on Monday, his aide said on Sunday. ‘‘President Kwasniewski will again fly to Kiev to take part in the third Ukrainian round table,’’ Dariusz Szymczcha told private Radio Zet.

EU diplomatic chief Javier Solana, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Russian Duma (lower house) speaker Boris Gryzlov will also take part in the talks.

Yushchenko’s camp spurned a deal on Saturday, brokered by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, to legislate curbs on the presidency’s powers. After two weeks of mass street protests, Yushchenko’s supporters have become bolder after the Supreme Court agreed with them on Friday that the authorities had rigged a November 21 poll in favour of PM Viktor Yanukovich. Washington and the EU have also praised the move, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment.

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Yushchenko told BBC he had received death threats and his personal security was a key issue ahead of the December 26 re-run. ‘‘I don’t believe the numerous threats against my life which I hear or receive in the mail will be successful,’’ Yushchenko told BBC’s Breakfast with Frost.

‘‘Regarding my poisoning, I was expecting something like that, for me it was just a matter of time,’’ he said. Yushchenko suffered a mystery illness during the poll campaign which made his face red and puffy. Doctors have said they have no proof for his claims the authorities tried to poison him.