"Turchynov has started playing around too much in search of cheap popularity with Kyiv's residents. After the capital's residents fully rejected confidence in him at the latest snap elections, which were illegally initiated by his political force, he decided to score political points and targeted the transport issue," the press service of the Kyiv city administration quoted the mayor as saying on Wednesday.

"Any orders given by a political outsider like Turchynov regarding the problems of the capital's prosperity, in particular, the functioning of transport, represent an inappropriate reaction to the absence of his popularity among Kyiv residents," Chernovetsky said.

He said that "[even as] the second top figure in the Cabinet of Ministers, Turchynov has never suggested allocating national budget funds to support and develop the city's municipal transport."

"The strange proposal by first vice-premier Turchynov has nothing to do with the settlement of the issues of safe work and the development of Kyiv's communal transport. This person has never lived through the problems of Kyiv, and, besides, has hardly ever been in Kyiv's metro," he said.

"Since the Cabinet of Ministers has never allocated funds for the development of the city's communal transport and never compensated for damage done to transport companies, any statements by the vice-premier regarding the inexpediency of the tariffs are only empty words, [which are] characteristic of the BYT's leadership," Chernovetsky said.