KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday called on Defense Minister Yuri Ekhanurov to resign over allegations of corruption, which the minister has vehemently denied.
Tymoshenko told a cabinet meeting she would write to President Viktor Yushchenko asking him to put a request before parliament for the minister's sacking, the Interfax agency reported.But Yushchenko rejected any such proposal in a statement issued from Istanbul, Turkey, where he was due to watch Shakhtar Donetsk play Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup final."This is a political move designed to create trouble" in the country, he said, in comments issued by his press service.Earlier Wednesday, Mykola Syvulsky, the head of the finance ministry's finance inspection department, said there was a case to answer against the defense minister, Interfax reported.The allegations concerned not just suspicions over the purchase of food for the army at prices up to 40% over the market price, but a property transaction involving 300 hectares of land, he said.Ekhanurov has denied the accusations against him and called for state prosecutors to investigate.A former prime minister himself who is close to the president - Tymoshenko's sworn political enemy - he suggested the accusations against him had to do with the presidential race ahead of the 2010 election.Tymoshenko is considered a leading candidate for the next presidential election, while Yushchenko, who has said he will seek a second term, is currently polling as low as 2%, according to some surveys.
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