Kiev - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday ordered troops to secure government buildings, escalating a long- running political conflict in the country to unprecedented levels.
Ukrainian police officers block the entry of the General Public Prosecutor's office during a rally against Ukrainian General Prosecutor Svyatoslav Piskun's dismissing in Kiev, Ukraine, 25 May 2007. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
The pro-Europe politician in a formal statement instructed Oleksander Kikhtenko, commander of the Interior Ministry's combat troops division, to 'maintain security' at buildings in the capital currently controlled by forces loyal to Yushchenko's opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
There were no early reports of troop movements as a result of Yushchenko's order.
Yushchenko's very public order mobilising interior ministry troops came after a day of scuffles and punch-ups between government security guards loyal to Yushchenko and police riot control units loyal to the pro-Russia Yanukovich.
Uniformed police supporting Yanukovich broke their way into the Prosecutor General's office building on Thursday, to return to his working desk Sviatoslav Piskun, whom Yushchenko had sacked earlier in the day.
The riot-control officers, members of a paramilitary police unit called Berkut, used boots and fists to force their way past building security and return Piskun to his post.
Violence then broke out between the Berkut troopers and a small group of masked soldiers that, according to media reports, were part of the elite Alpha counterterrorism unit, which belong to the Yushchenko-controlled national spy agency the SBU.
SBU spokesmen, however, flatly denied Alpha participation in the clashes, and identified the masked troopers as members of a police unit loyal to Yushchenko.
Troops from the Titan brigade, yet another paramilitary force loyal to Yanukovich and the national police, clashed with members of the state security service, a ceremonial unit loyal to Yushchenko, in an third punch-up at the Prosecutor General's office.
The Titan soldiers smashed a radio belonging to the security service officers, and choked several into submission before television cameras, as they wrestled the pro-Yushchenko agents out of the building Thursday evening.
Defence Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko, who is loyal to Yushchenko, on Thursday warned security forces from escalating the conflict. The dispute must be settled by peaceful means, he said.
Yushchenko's instruction to the interior ministry troops commander to 'maintain security' at government buildings appeared aimed at escalating the conflict, by planning the employment of proper combat units against the lightly-armed, though reportedly well-trained, Titan brigade and Berkut troopers loyal to Yanukovich.
The key buildings in the stand-off, the constitutional court and the prosecutor general's office, were relatively quiet on Friday afternoon, although some 1,500 Yushchenko and 6,000 Yanukovich supporters were demonstrating in front the latter building.
Some twenty Berkut troopers were reportedly still inside the building, with reinforcements on hand nearby.
Yanukovich, according to news reports, was planning to retaliate against Yushchenko's order to the interior ministry troop command by nominating in parliament Oleksander Kuzmiuk, a former defence minister, to the position of Vice Premier for Defence and Security.
Kuzmiuk is a long-serving soldier sacked after a series of deadly Ukrainian military accidents including the accidental shooting down of a civilian aircraft. He nevertheless still commands the loyalty of some army units, observers said.
Yanukovich in a national television address late Thursday evening blamed Yushchenko for the day's incidents and called on 'the international community ... to convince the president to return to a policy of following the rule of law.'
Armed conflict and civil war 'will not be permitted,' he said.
The dispute is part of long-simmering political strife between pro-European Yushchenko and Yanukovich, who is supported by the Russian-speaking eastern part of Ukraine.
The conflict heated up in early April when Yushchenko ordered parliament dissolved and called for new elections. Yanukovich has said the order was unconstitutional.
Now the two sides are also arguing over the date for parliamentary elections. Yushchenko wants the elections to take place before the summer break while Yanukovich is pushing for the fall.
Feuding government agencies willing to interpret law as they see fit and back their opinion up with uniformed bully boys have been an unchanging feature of the Ukrainian political landscape since the country's 1991 independence.
Violence between paramilitary troops working for conflicting branches of government is, however, extremely rare, with the sides typically limiting themselves to posturing and the weaker contestant backing down peacefully in the face of superior numbers.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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