On 16 September 2008 the speaker of the Ukrainian legislature announced that the ruling government coalition has been officially dissolved. The coalition has been attempting to resolve its differences since President Victor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party pulled out of the alliance earlier in the month. The Ukrainian government now has 30 days to form a new coalition or risk being dissolved and new elections called. Rivalry between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which was further intensified by Russia’s military operation in Georgia, is believed to have contributed to the collapse.