The heads of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry should be punished for Sunday’s battering of soccer fans by riot police officers during the 2007 Ukraine Cup final between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk, Oleksandr Turchynov, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told a press briefing on Wednesday, according to the President`s press-office.

      Turchynov said interior troops officers had been in charge of ensuring security during such events over the past several years, “act effectively in such conditions and have never beaten so many people, even in the most difficult situations.”

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      Turchynov said Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko had ordered traffic police officers to stop the country`s interior troops after President Yushchenko had ordered them to the capital to guard state offices, especially the seized prosecutor general`s building.

Tsushko then commissioned riot police officers to patrol Kyiv’s Republican Stadium during the game, he added.

      “I think those who signed this order – and this cant’s have happened without the interior minister’s permission – should be prosecuted for the consequences of their decision,” he said, characterizing the actions by Berkut, Ukraine’s riot police unit, as “inadequate."