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Kuchma Says Working Group Formed To Resolve Crisis


Yushchenko supporters have demonstrated every day since the election Kyiv, 26 November 2004 -- President Leonid Kuchma says the two rival presidential candidates have agreed to set up a working group to try to resolve crisis over Ukraine's disputed election.

"To ensure the negotiation process, the parties established a working group in order to elaborate a joint decision on the settlement of the political crisis," Kuchma said.

Kuchma made the announcement following closed-door talks today in Kyiv attended by European and Russian mediators. He said the working group is to start work immediately.

Kuchma said Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko rejected the use of force to resolve their dispute.

Yanukovych and Yushchenko did not address reporters following the meeting. The talks today came as tens of thousands of opposition supporters continued their protests against the election outcome for the fifth straight day in central Kyiv. Several thousand Yanukovych supporters also gathered in another part of the capital today.

Election officials declared Yanukovych the winner of the election, but Yushchenko says the vote was rigged to rob him of victory.

(RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service/international news agencies)

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