Vasilyev submitted his resignation on Wednesday, explaining that he couldn't allow his name and post to be used as "an element of bargaining in the current political game."

Meanwhile, the Pechorsky district court in Kiev restored Svyatoslav Piskun as Ukraine's chief prosecutor on Thursday. He used to be Ukraine's chief prosecutor in 2002-2003.

Piskun's lawyer said that Piskun's appointment was not linked to Vasilyev's dismissal and was just a "coincidence."

At the same time, there is a procedure of appealing against the court decision through the Appellate Court.

Prior to the dismissal, the opposition Our Ukraine group had demanded that Vasilyev be fired. Vasilyev, who used to be a parliament member, was appointed as prosecutor general on Nov. 18,2003.

It is Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Kudryavtsev who has taken over Vasilyev's duties, a staff member of the Prosecutor General's Office press service was cited as saying.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Ukrainian parliament approved a new election commission after dissolving the old one. The new Ukrainian Central Election Commission then elected Yaroslav Davidovich as its new chairman.

The dissolution was part of a compromise reached between outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and the Yushchenko-led opposition. The move aims to defuse the weeks-long political crisis triggered by the Nov. 21 presidential run-off.

Establishing a new central election commission was a key demand of the opposition headed by Viktor Yushchenko. Former commission chairman Sergei Kivalov failed to enter the new commission, which keeps 11 former members and takes in four new ones.