Victor Yushchenko insists that the country’s law enforcement bodies work efficiently and as one team, and be apolitical, according to the President`s press-office.

      Summing up results of Monday`s meeting with law enforcement and military leaders, he said during a news conference the situation in Ukraine was stable.

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      “Civil order is being demonstrated, as well as the readiness of the law enforcement agencies to protect stability, law and human freedoms. However, I see that they should work much harder to effectively react to all the developments of this political crisis,” he said, adding that their weak response caused lots of worries.

      The President demanded that Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko “adequately, quickly and firmly” respond to a number of recent decisions and statements, particularly last week’s governmental resolution disobeying his decree to disband parliament.

      “I am going to chair a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Friday and would like to hear a report on the issue,” he said, asking the Prosecutor General’s Office to legally assess Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych’s statements on the unconstitutionality of the dissolution order.

      Yushchenko requested Medvedko to inform him about results of his investigations into a recent incident in the Kyiv Pechersk Court, whose acting chairwoman had been attacked to give away her official seal, as well as rulings by district courts in Feodosiya, Artemivsk and Tomakiv to suspend his decree. He expressed hopes participants of Friday’s meeting would adequately respond to the decisions by their colleagues from Crimea, Lugansk and Dnipropetrovsk.

      “Today we must ensure that courts and Ukraine’s constitution are esteemed. I hope that the law enforcement bodies that will be studying the actions of certain officials will stick to this imperative,” he said.

      Yushchenko also asked the law enforcement agencies to find out why so many students and school pupils arrive in Kyiv for political rallies.

      “I would like to ask the law enforcement agencies to react to the involvement of students, particularly college students from other cities and towns, in staging the so-called protests in Kyiv. […] Why are the children being paid UAH 60-100 by this or that political party to stand on Kyiv’s streets instead of gaining knowledge?” he asked.

      The President complained that certain political forces were exerting pressure on the country’s courts and law enforcement agencies, deepening the political crisis and making it more difficult to resolve it.

      He said it was vital to ensure that the law enforcement agencies never clash with one another, defending opposite political forces.