17 September 2014

Yatsenyuk tells army to be on full battle alert despite ceasefire

Reuters: 17. September 2014


Servicemen of the Ukrainian 'Shakhtarsk' battalion fire during an exercise on a range near eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sept. 16, 2014. 



Ukraine's prime minister told the defence ministry on Wednesday to ensure that government forces were on full battle alert despite a 12-day ceasefire with Russian-backed separatists.
"Russia will not give us peace so I am asking the defence minister for full battle readiness," said Arseny Yatseniuk in comments in keeping with the hawkish stance he has been taking over negotiations with separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Enacting the peace plan of President Petro Poroshenko did not mean "relaxing the work of the defence and interior ministries", he said. "Full readiness (is required). We can't believe anyone, especially the Russians."


Yatsenyuk says one million Ukrainian civil servants to be screened for loyalty


Ukraine's prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk during his cabinet meeting.

Ukraine's prime minister said on Wednesday that one million civil servants, including from government ranks, will be screened for loyalty under new legislation to root out corrupt practices hanging over from the previous ousted administration.

"According to our calculation, one million civil servants of different kinds will come under this law, including the whole cabinet of ministers, the interior ministry, the intelligence services, the prosecutor's office," Arseny Yatseniuk told a cabinet meeting.

"All the bodies of central power who worked at the time of President Viktor Yanukovich will fall under this law," he said.

A new law on "lustration" - meaning a purge of the ranks of power - was passed by parliament on Tuesday under grassroots pressure from lobby groups representing protesters who brought down Yanukovich in February after months of unrest.

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