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Ukraine’s acting Interior Minister: Confrontation in Crimea must be prevented

KIEV, February 24, 6:46 /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian parliament’s special commissioners for control of the Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov and Valentin Nalivaichenko, paid “a very brief visit” to Simferopol, the capital of the Crimean autonomy, the Crimean mass media have said.

“The country is returning back to the track of a peace dialogue. It is very important to not provoke anybody. In a situation like this it is essential to avoid a confrontation like the one that occurred in Kiev, I believe that we shall be able to restore calm through dialogue,” Avakov said.

It was the first visit by the newly-appointed chiefs of Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies to a Ukrainian region. The Crimean autonomy was chosen after a rally in Sevastopol on Sunday spontaneously elected a new mayor and demanded the autonomy’s re-unification with Russia.

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