A Possible Premier for Ukraine

The president of Ukraine reportedly nominated Anatoly Kinakh for the prime minister’s post Tuesday. The business lobbyist promised to keep the nation moving toward market reforms.

“I shall submit that candidacy today,” President Leonid D. Kuchma said Tuesday. But it was unclear by Tuesday evening whether he had formally submitted documents nominating Kinakh.

The choice, however, may do little to end months of political turmoil in this large East European nation because the appointment must be approved by Ukraine’s Communist-dominated parliament.

The lawmakers ousted reformist Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko last month, and the Communists say they will only support a new candidate who shares their views on returning to a more Soviet-style, command economy.

Yushchenko’s reformist policies have been credited with producing the first signs of economic growth since Ukraine’s 1991 independence.

The no-confidence vote followed an unlikely alliance between Communists, who staunchly opposed Yushchenko’s reforms, and centrists and others who sought a greater role in the government ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.

Kinakh, 46, said he will hold “very serious” talks with the Communists but would insist on “irreversibility of market reforms.”

Kinakh, who heads the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, is backed by centrist factions.

He was a presidential representative in the southern Mykolaiv area and headed the regional administration in 1994-95. From 1995 to 1996 he served as deputy prime minister for industrial policy.