The Crimean territorial command of the Ukrainian Interior Forces has denied media reports on preparations for sending its troops to Kyiv to help maintain law and order amid the opposition's protests.

"All Interior Forces units are at their permanent bases and are performing their service duties in line with the organizational table," Mykhailo Botsaniuk, a spokesman for the Crimean territorial command of the Ukrainian Interior Forces, told Interfax-Ukraine.

A number of Ukrainian media outlets reported earlier that special Interior Forces companies in the Crimea had been alerted to be deployed to Kyiv.