MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - The parliament of Ukraine on Tuesday appointed Mykhail Koval as acting defense minister following a narrow vote to allow the resignation of Ihor Tenyukh from the post earlier in the day.
Tenyukh, a member of the far-right nationalist Svoboda party, announced his resignation during an address to parliament, but the measure to approve his dismissal initially failed to muster enough support in the legislature, only passing by a slim margin in a second vote.
In 2012, Tenyukh joined the Sevastopol branch of the far-right Svoboda party led by Oleh Tyahnbok, who advocates an ultranationalist ideology.
Tenyukh was appointed deputy chief of staff of the country's armed forces shortly after his active participation in the so-called Orange Revolution in 2005.
He later served as commander of the country's navy and in that role orchestrated an information war against Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, before being dismissed by President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010.
