By Stefan Wagstyl, East Europe Editor
Published: February 3 2006

Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, yesterday attacked President Viktor Yushchenko for considering a coalition government with Viktor Yanukovich, his arch-enemy in the Orange Revolution, saying such moves would lead the country into "a political dead end".

She warned her former ally that a coalition with Mr Yanukovich, his rival in the disputed 2004 presidential election, would lead to a takeover of power by Mr Yanukovich's forces.

Speaking to the FT in London, she said: "If such a coalition is created only the president will be orange and all the others will be blue (Mr Yanukovich's colour). The president will be hostage to other politicians."

Ukraine's warring parties are preparing for crucial parliamentary elections next month in which the three principal groupings are the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc, Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine and Mr Yanukovich's Regions party.

Under a deal hammered out during the Orange Revolution between Mr Yushchenko and former president Leonid Kuchma, power is being transferred from the presidency to parliament so the new parliament will, for the first time, control the formation of the government.

In the immediate aftermath of the Orange revolution, Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko planned to fight this election together. But they split last summer when Mr Yushchenko sacked Ms Tymoshenko as prime minister, a move that has left Mr Yushchenko isolated.

The president put out feelers to Mr Yanukovich, resulting in a temporary agreement for Mr Yanukovich's party to confirm Mr Yushchenko's new prime minister, Yuri Yekhanurov. Now there is talk in Kiev of the formation of a broad post-election coalition between Mr Yushchenko, Mr Yanukovich and some smaller parties.

Ms Tymoshenko referred to such a coalition as the "axis of security". She condemned plans for it as "an enormous mistake". Referring to the personalities of the cautious Mr Yushchenko and the aggressive Mr Yanukovich, she said it would be "clear who would dominate".

Ms Tymoshenko said the ideal solution would be to recreate her partnership with Mr Yushchenko before the polls but said a post-election coalition was a "realistic" option. She dismissed suggestions that Mr Yushchenko was in a strong position because he could play her off against Mr Yanukovich.

"Mr Yushchenko doesn't have a choice between me and Mr Yanukovich because a deal with Mr Yanukovich would be a total loss of power for him."

She said she agreed with Mr Yushchenko on his economic and foreign policies but had split over the problems left behind by Mr Kuchma such as powerful business groups and unsolved crimes.

Ms Tymoshenko warned westerners not to underestimate the strength of the reactionary forces in Kiev, represented by Mr Yanukovich, adding that democracy was still at risk and the risk was "not small".

Ms Tymoshenko repeated earlier criticism of the deal reached by Ukraine in the recent gas dispute with Russia. The agreement, which has still to be finalised, gave a monopoly of gas supplies to RosUkrEnergo, a company with a "murky background". The proposed volume of gas was insufficient creating a risk that Moscow would be able to put pressure on Kiev "every month" in arguments about extra supplies.