Kiev, Ukraine ? President Leonid Kuchma on Saturday fired the government of Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh, a presidential spokeswoman said, a fresh chapter in the political turmoil that has plagued the former Soviet republic in its decade of independence.

The cabinet remains in office until the parliament approves the dismissal order, said spokeswoman Yevgenya Zhoravlova, and a date for that vote has not been set.

Kuchma has been embattled by public protests calling for his resignation on the grounds of incompetence and corruption and by allegations that he approved the sale of a radar system to Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Kuchma’s candidate to replace Kinakh is Viktor Yanukovych, regional governor in the eastern industrial province of Donetsk.

Yanukovych rose to the top of the list of four on Friday as the top candidate to replace Ukraine’s embattled Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh met with faction leaders from the 450-member upper house of parliament.

A razor-thin, largely pro-presidential majority coalition of lawmakers have lobbied for weeks to replace Kinakh amid criticism that his government caused a budget crisis.

Kuchma’s decision to oust the government comes one week after he called for Kinakh’s resignation.

Since Kinakh came to power in April 2001, reforms have sputtered.