Ukraine’s president has accused the International Monetary Fund of being too lenient on the government led by Yulia Tymoshenko, his prime minister and bitter rival in next year’s presidential elections.

In comments that threaten to pull the IMF and Kiev’s other western lenders into the country’s messy politics, Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday questioned why the IMF had continued to provide Ms Tymoshenko’s government with financial assistance in spite of its failure to adopt key reforms.