KIEV, January 13 (Itar-Tass) – Ukraine’s Party of Regions has called for beginning the impeachment proceedings against President Viktor Yushchenko and for dismissing the government of Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, the party’s leader, Viktor Yanukovich, said on Tuesday.

“We urge immediate resignation of the Cabinet and the beginning of impeachment proceedings,” he said.

Yanukovich stressed the need for setting up a parliamentary commission to investigate the government’s work.

He proposed to consider the issue of the parliament’s resignation at the parliamentary meeting on January 15.

“The orange authorities turned Ukrainian-Russian relations into the source of extreme tension,” the opposition’s leader said adding that the current authorities’ actions “left many schools, hospitals and houses without heat, brought many companies to closure, while many jobless remain in despair.”

Yanukovich noted at present, there is an opportunity for “a mass social protest that can lead to forceful confrontation between the authorities and people.”