One million civil servants in Ukraine to be screened for loyalty

Ukraine's prime minister said on Wednesday that one million civil servants, including from government ranks, will be screened for loyalty under new legislation to root out corrupt practices hanging over from the previous ousted administration.

"According to our calculation, one million civil servants of different kinds will come under this law, including the whole cabinet of ministers, the interior ministry, the intelligence services, the prosecutor's office," Arseny Yatseniuk told a cabinet meeting.

"All the bodies of central power who worked at the time of President Viktor Yanukovich will fall under this law," he said.

A new law on "lustration" - meaning a purge of the ranks of power - was passed by parliament on Tuesday under grassroots pressure from lobby groups representing protesters who brought down Yanukovich in February after months of unrest.