Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has accepted the resignation of Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the entire Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The head of state has signed a relevant decree No. 673/2012 on Monday, reads a posting on the president's Web site. The decree takes effect on the day of its publication.

In the same decree, the president ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to carry out its duties until the new government begins to work.

According to the press service, on Monday, December 3, Azarov submitted to the president an application for resignation.

"In connection with my election as a people's deputy of Ukraine and under Part 2 of Article 115 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 15 of the law of Ukraine on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, I resign," reads the premier's statement.

According to Article 115 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the entire government has to be dismissed following the prime minister's resignation. Thus, the president accepted the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers.

At the same time, following Part 5 of Article 115 of the constitution, the president ordered the government to carry out its duties until the new government begins to work.

Under Part 3 of Article 17 of the law on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, all members of the government that have resigned will be dismissed as soon as the newly formed Cabinet of Ministers begins to work. Thus, all of the incumbent ministers will keep carrying out their duties until the dismissal according to the constitutional procedure.

Under the current legislation, the president appoints the prime minister of Ukraine upon approval of the majority of the constitutional membership of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. The parliament should consider the president's proposal on the appointment of a new prime minister within five days since the submission of a relevant document to the Verkhovna Rada (Item 12 of Part 1 of Article 85, Item 9 of Part 1 of Article 106, Part 2 of Article 114 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Article 8 of the law of Ukraine on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Article 205 of the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada approved by the law on the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine).

As reported, earlier Azarov stated that the ministers that were elected to a new parliament should decide where they would work taking into account Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's opinion on the issue.

The head of the Regions Party parliamentary faction, Oleksandr Yefremov, said that all of the ministers that were elected as people's deputies would accept seats in the parliament.

"The only thing I know is that today all of the ministers are submitting applications and passing to [people's] deputy work," he said.

He added that in future the ministers that won seats in the parliament will acts depending on the formation of the majority in the parliament and the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov, Vice Premier and Social Policy Minister Sergiy Tigipko, Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych, Economic Development and Trade Minister Petro Poroshenko, Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloha, Vice Premier and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov, Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities Minister Anatoliy Blyzniuk, and Education, Science and Sports Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk were elected as people's deputies of Ukraine.

According to the legislation, the candidates that passed to the parliament had to submit to the Central Election Commission documents confirming their dismissal from their previous work place within 20 days (until December 3) to receive a seat in the parliament.