Ukraine's court clears president for third term

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that President Leonid Kuchma can run for a third five-year term next year, a move likely to further heat up the already tense political situation in the ex-Soviet republic. Ukraine's first post-Soviet constitution approved in 1996 limits a president to two terms in office. The Constitutional Court ruled that Kuchma's first term, which started in 1994, didn't count because it began before the constitution's approval, Antonina Stakhovska, the court's spokeswoman, said by telephone. Kuchma, who headed a missile factory during Soviet times, finishes his second term next year. He has said publicly that he wouldn't seek another term in elections set for October.

Kuchma's spokeswoman Oksana Kosareva said that his position hasn't changed "yet." Kuchma, 65, is currently on a trip to Baden-Baden, a famed spa town in Germany, following last month's abdominal surgery.

The court's ruling is certain to infuriate the opposition, which has long accused Kuchma of corruption and involvement in the killing of an opposition journalist and pushed for his ouster. The opposition has long suspected Kuchma of seeking a legal loophole to extend his tenure.

Last week, the Ukrainian parliament gave preliminary approval to a set of constitutional amendments that would have the country's president elected by the legislature instead of popular vote starting in 2006.

The opposition vainly tried to block the amendments drafted by Kuchma's supporters, saying they represented an attempt to keep him in office beyond term limits or help him install a hand-picked successor in elections set for October.

The opposition tried to unseat Kuchma in a wave of street protests in the fall of 2002, but he has weathered the pressure. During that period, Ukraine's relations with the United States soured as the U.S. administration accused Kuchma of sanctioning the sale of sophisticated military radars to Iraq.

Kuchma has denied the accusations, and U.S.-Ukrainian relations improved this year after the Ukrainian government sent peacekeepers to Iraq in an apparent attempt to placate Washington.