Ukraine President Sacks Top Officials

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has dismissed Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko, Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and Finance Minister Yuri Kolobov. Decrees to this effect were published at the president’s official web page Monday. Among the other Ukrainian high-flyers who lost their offices today are the country’s Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, Yuri Boiko, as well as Ecology and Natural Resources chief Eduard Stavitsky. The president has also sacked head of Ukraine’s customs service Alexander Klimenko, Defense Minister Dmitry Salamatin, Deputy PM and Health Minister Raisa Bogatyryova, Culture Minister Mikhail Kulinyak and Dmitry Kolesnikov, head of the Ukrainian State Agency for Management of State Corporate Rights and Property.