KIEV, June 8 ??“ In a surprise move that may cloud the recent early-election deal between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, First Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Shymchuk, Yushchenko??™s loyalist, was dismissed.

Prosecutor General Oleksander Medvedko, a Yanukovych loyalist, replaced Shymchuk with Serhiy Vinokurov after a surprise court ruling that had reinstated Vinokurov to the post.