KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian interior minister said Saturday a detachment of interior troops is moving toward Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, ignoring his order to stay put.
The Interior Ministry said earlier in a statement that several thousand interior troops are moving toward Kiev following an order given by Interior Troops Commander Oleksandr Kykhtenko.
"I did not give an order for troops to leave their barracks," Vasyl Tsushko said, adding that someone else did.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed Friday a decree to make the country's Interior Ministry troops directly subordinate to him, removing them from the ministry's jurisdiction.
The move follows Thursday's turmoil in Kiev, when Yushchenko dismissed the country's top prosecutor, and the interior minister defied the president, sending in riot police to defend the prosecutor as he remained in his office while protestors gathered outside. Police were also ordered to arrest State Guard Department officers at the premises.
Kykhtenko said the troops were ordered to Kiev to maintain public order and not to resolve an ongoing political crisis in Ukraine by force.
"Today we will be maintaining public order," the commander said.
Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun, dismissed Thursday by Yushchenko, confirmed information about troops saying that about 800 Ukrainian Interior Ministry's special units troops are moving to the country's capital.
"According to my information, 200 troops from Yaguar, 200 from Bars, 200 from Omega and 200 from Gepard special units troops are currently approaching Kiev," Piskun said.
But Mykhailo Kornienko, a deputy interior minister, said that "over 2,000 interior ministry troops are moving to Kiev," adding that Tshushko ordered them to stop, but "Colonel General Kykhtenko refused to obey the order of the interior minister.
The troops, whose role is to maintain public order, and who are not connected to the army, had been under the control of Interior Minister Tsushko, a supporter of Yushchenko's long-time arch rival Viktor Yanukovych.
Yanukovych earlier ruled out the use of force by pro-government factions in tackling the protracted political conflict with the pro-presidential forces. "We will never use troops and law enforcement bodies to tackle political problems," Yanukovych told parliament.
