KIEV – Ukraine's opposition leader and presidential hopeful Viktor Yanukovich called Georgia's actions in South Ossetia last month 'criminal' and warned on Friday against forcing Ukraine to enter the NATO military alliance.

His comments contrast sharply with President Viktor Yushchenko's push for NATO membership and support for Georgia, whose forces were chased out of its breakaway South Ossetia region by Russia when it tried to retake it.

Ukraine is in the throes of a political crisis after Yushchenko's party left the ruling coalition. Yanukovich has a chance of joining forces with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her party to form a new government.

'The obvious fact is that Russia was not the instigator of the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict,' Yanukovich told reporters.

'Georgia starting a war in South Ossetia in the night, killing peaceful civilians, is, lightly speaking, emotional and criminal,' he said.

Yushchenko, who demonstrated his support for fellow ex-Soviet Georgia by visiting Tbilisi while war was in progress, wants to remove Ukraine from Russian influence and join NATO and the European Union.

As Yanukovich spoke, Yushchenko was hosting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who supported Ukraine's NATO ambitions.

Yanukovich's comments reflected the divergence in Ukraine between the Ukrainian nationalist west and the Russian-speaking east. The majority of Ukraine's 47 million people do not want to join NATO, after decades of Soviet propaganda portraying it as a warmongering enemy.

'Any attempt to force Ukraine into NATO is doomed to failure,' Yanukovich said. 'This question has to be solved by the Ukrainian nation through a referendum ... the final decision will be taken by the Ukrainian nation.'

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As prime minister in 2006, Yanukovich practically derailed the process of joining NATO when he told Western leaders in Brussels that Ukraine was not ready to join.

The process was restarted in January when Yushchenko, Tymoshenko and the speaker of parliament asked for a 'Membership Action Plan', the first step towards membership. But the request sparked protests and halted work in parliament for weeks.

All political parties and the president have agreed there should be a referendum on membership of NATO, but Yanukovich said all steps towards NATO – including gaining MAP status – should be put to the vote.

Yanukovich – the Moscow-backed candidate whose victory in a fraudulent vote sparked the Orange Revolution that swept Yushchenko to power – said Ukraine's reaction to the Georgian conflict 'severely damaged' relations with Russia.

'We are trying to improve the situation, to change the tone in relations between Russia and Ukraine,' he said.

Russia is Ukraine's second largest trading partner after the EU and provides 75 percent of its gas. Some politicians at home and abroad accuse Russia of using gas prices as a political lever. Yanukovich said he was willing to run as a presidential candidate in an election due in about 16 months. Tymoshenko and Yushchenko are also expected to run and analysts have said the present political crisis is the true start of the campaign.