Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has accepted Foreign
Minister Borys Tarasyuk's resignation, the presidential press
office said in a statement on Tuesday.
President Yushchenko considered Tarasyuk's decision a
responsible step, said the statement, adding that Volodymyr
Ohryzko, Tarasyuk's deputy, had been appointed as acting foreign
minister.
The foreign minister submitted his resignation on Tuesday after
a month-long battle with the government reined by Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych.
Yanukovych was authorized by a motion passed by the Ukrainian
parliament on Dec. 1, 2006 to sack Tarasyuk, and has since kept him
from cabinet meetings.
Tarasyuk, however, challenged the parliamentary move in court
and won a ruling in his favor. But earlier this month an appeals
court nullified the court's decision, saying the case should be
reconsidered.
Tarasyuk took office in February 2005. In August 2006, after
being nominated by the president, he managed to win the
parliamentary approval and remained in the cabinet headed by
Yanukovych.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)
