Yanukovich to give post of interior minister to Socialists

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Socialist Party faction at the Ukrainian parliament decided to propose candidature of MP Vasily Tsushko for the post of interior minister. The information was confirmed today, on December 1, by several MPs from the anti-crisis coalition on the sidelines of the Supreme Rada, a REGNUM correspondent in Kiev informs.

In particular, according to Socialist Party member Yevgeny Filindash, an agreement on Tsushko’s candidature was approved by the Socialist Party faction and coordinated with the rest members of the coalition. In his turn, member of the Regions Party Taras Chornovil told reporters that candidature of Vasily Tsushko for the interior minister post is the final one, and dismissal of Yuri Lutsenko and appointment of Vasily Tsushko will happen today. “Yesterday we failed to complete a formality: there were no proposal on introducing a new candidature, that is why the Socialists did not vote for dismissal of Yuri Lutsenko. It does not mean that the Socialists do not trust their partners in the coalition, they just wanted the formality to be observed,” Taras Chornovil said.

It is worth mentioning, on November 30, the Ukrainian Supreme Rada failed to dismiss Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko. 223 of 226 needed votes were given for the interior minister’s dismissal at the evening plenary session. Earlier, at the morning session the Supreme Rada passed a decision to address Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich asking to introduce to the parliament a notice on dismissing Yuri Lutsenko from the post of interior minister. 232 MPs voted for passing the decision.