KIEV, Jan. 31 – Ukraine drifted towards a constitutional crisis a week before the presidential vote amid growing confusion among key figures over who is authorized to issue orders to its 300,000 police officers.

The crisis comes at an especially bad moment as rival political groups have been sending thousands of supporters to Kiev for possible street protests, or even clashes, after the runoff vote February 7.

This may complicate transition of power from President Viktor Yushchenko to the new president that will be elected in the runoff between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Yanukovych led Tymoshenko by a comfortable margin of 10 percentage points after the first round of presidential election on January 17.

Parliament, led by the opposition Regions Party, on Thursday dismissed Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko after he had openly campaigned for Tymoshenko.

But Tymoshenko responded quickly by appointing Lutsenko as the acting interior minister, suggesting he will still be in control of the massive police force throughout the country.

The appointment, however, is not recognized by the opposition groups and by the president.

Yushchenko on Friday removed Lutsenko from the National Security and Defense Council, the country’s top security body, an indication that the president doesn’t view him as the authority.

The Regions Party, which controls the largest group in Parliament, cited a ruling by the Kiev District Administrative Court that had rejected Lutsenko’s appointment.

“The attempts to reinstate him by any of their decisions are a violation of the constitution,” Yanukovych said in an interview with ICTV. “He’s not working at the interior ministry. He’s fired, according to the constitution.”

“Mr. Lutsenko is the same citizen as all others. He doesn’t have the authority to issue orders,” Yanukovych said.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko on Sunday has insisted that Lutsenko is the person who will be issuing orders to 300,000-strong police force.

“According to legislation, Lutsenko is the acting interior minister,” Tymoshenko said in an interview with 1+1 television.

Tymoshenko said the ministry has never received the ruling that had suspended the government’s resolution appointing Lutsenko.

“If the ruling existed, it would be delivered to the government by the official mail,” Tymoshenko said. “We don’t have that mail.”

Yushchenko on Friday appointed Oleksandr Kikhtenko, the head of the interior ministry’s National Guard, the largest force within the ministry, to the National Security and Defense Council.

The last time Kikhtenko was elevated to the council was in May 2007, when Yushchenko had apparently considered sending National Guards to Kiev to prevent a looming constitutional crisis over his decision to dismiss Parliament ad call early election. (tl/ez)