Yushchenko places Ukraine’s interior troops under presidential command
By Steven Lee Myers
President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine issued a decree Friday putting Interior Ministry troops under presidential command, but the ministry, joined by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, declared the move unconstitutional and defied it.
Yushchenko’s decree escalated a political crisis that has consumed Ukrainian politics since April, when Yushchenko first tried to dismiss the Parliament and call new elections. He acted a day after interior troops, joined by Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko, occupied the office of the prosecutor general to prevent a presidential order dismissing him.
The use of uniformed forces in what until now had been a stormy, though purely political, fight was an ominous development.Critics of Yushchenko, including the prime minister, accused the president of usurping his powers and even fomenting a coup. The speaker of the Parliament, Oleksandr Moroz, called for international mediation “to prevent a tragic situation,” the Interfax news agency reported.
Protesters for both sides appeared outside the prosecutor’s office, which remained occupied by interior troops.
The battling factions – Yushchenko’s and Yanukovich’s – broadly represent the political, cultural and social forces that have divided Ukraine ever since the last presidential election, in 2004.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/news/ukraine.php