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BloombergBy Daryna Krasnolutska and Sebastian Alison
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko took Interior Ministry troops under his control, a day after the interior minister used the troops to bar the newly appointed acting Prosecutor General from entering his office.
``The order was signed to prevent possible threats to the nation's interests and ensure that the interior troops, which had been until recently a part of the Interior Ministry, are not used to benefit political forces,'' Yushchenko said in a statement posted on the presidential Web site today.
Yushchenko's opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, called the move illegal.
Ukraine's political standoff worsened yesterday when Yushchenko fired Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun a month after hiring him. Piskun is a lawmaker for the Party of Regions, headed by Yanukovych. Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko called the dismissal ``a coup d'etat,'' Interfax reported yesterday.
Yushchenko said he fired Piskun because by law he was supposed to give up his parliamentary seat after taking a job as Prosecutor General. The president appointed Viktor Shemchuk, former deputy to Piskun, acting Prosecutor General.
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