On Thursday, February 17 Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Lutsenko met at the Ministry with US Ambassador to Ukraine John E. Herbst

The host party informed the envoy about early steps to reform the Ministry. According to Yuri Lutsenko, he has halved the number of Deputy Ministers and is contemplating to drastically reduce the number of generals' positions, which currently stand at 150.

As the Minister said, he is very much short of time in carrying out key personnel shakeups because the Ministry's personnel rejuvenation and reorganisation must be completed in two months' time, the period for which he asked the public's credit of trust.

Within this period, he said, the President's four tasks must be fulfilled, that is, legally appraise facts of police officers' interference in the election process in each region, punish corrupt officers, make the society believe that police are not a cover for organised crime and achieve tangible results in curbing corruption among law enforcement officers.

In turn, John Herbst noted Yuri Lutsenko's skills as an organiser, which were manifest during the "orange revolution."

Mr Herbst articulated a number of proposals to promote cooperation between Ukrainian and American law enforcement officers.

As the Ambassador noted, the US party is ready to render any aid to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.