A member of the main ruling Party of Regions, MP Vadym Kolesnichenko, has said that his party voted today in favor of an opposition proposal to dismiss the deputy prime minister for humanitarian issues, Volodymyr Semynozhenko, because he failed to cope with his duties. The 5 Kanal TV channel showed Kolesnichenko commenting on Semynozhenko's dismissal in Parliament after the vote held today.

"The man simply did not cope. He is an academic, a respected man. He has probably penned some scientific works. But he has failed as an effective manager. We cannot provide jobs for people who may be good people but are ineffective managers. The state has no time to waste on this," Kolesnichenko said. A member of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, MP Volodymyr Polokhalo, suggested that Semynozhenko was removed from the government by rivals for control over "financial flows".

"A group of other people in the government believes today that Semynozhenko has far too many opportunities to control (cash) flows involving humanitarian aid, innovation development and control over innovation development. It is more about financial flows than control. Therefore, I interpret this as a sign that the government is not monolithic. In my view, it is going through a stage of deep crisis," 5 Kanal showed Polokhalo saying.

Deputy parliamentary speaker Mykola Tomenko, an MP of the opposition YTB, said the opposition had initiated Semynozhenko's dismissal because he was a proponent of a union with Russia, the UNIAN news agency reported. "Our vote to fire Deputy Prime Minister Semynozhenko was due to the fact that he is a proponent of the idea of creating a union state with Russia with all the ensuing attributes of that union state - the promotion of Soviet traditions and the strengthening of the Russian language," UNIAN quoted Tomenko as saying. He added that the coalition had to give "details explanations" as to why its MPs had supported Semynozhenko's dismissal. A total of 378 MPs voted to dismiss Semynozhenko.