Popular PM and his reforms could fall

The president, not prime minister, has been target of protests

By the BBC's Rob Parsons in Moscow

The simmering row between Ukraine's parliament and its young reformist prime minister has come to a head.

On Thursday, deputies will decide whether to back a vote of no confidence in the government, put forward by a hardline communist motion.

And this despite the fact that Viktor Yushchenko, a reformist with a background in banking, is credited with reviving Ukraine's turgid economy.

For the first time since independence in 1991, there are signs of economic progress.

Old-style communists

For the first time in years reforms are stuttering into life.

But the communists, who favour a return to old-style central planning and closer contacts with Moscow, are backed by a coalition of centrists and powerful businessmen who feel threatened by the government's drive to root out corruption.

Despite that, they risk stepping out of line with public opinion.

According to polls, Mr Yushchenko is Ukraine's most popular and trusted politician.

But he has no strong power base of his own and is distrusted by the President, Leonid Kuchma, who appears to see the prime minister as an increasingly credible challenger to his own position.