Ukraine Leader Vows Battle Against Crime
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KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma launched a battle against crime and fired the Interior minister Thursday in his first major actions two days after being inaugurated.
Kuchma issued a four-page decree pledging to bolster joint patrols of police and soldiers in areas of high criminal concentration to root out “banditism, extortion rackets and hostage-taking.”
In a separate decree, Kuchma fired Interior Minister Andriy Vasylyshyn, who held the job for three years. He was replaced by Volodymyr Radchenko, an officer in Ukraine’s security services.
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