Ukraine arrest warrant for ex-leader Yanukovych
24 February 2014
Last updated at 10:07 GMT
Viktor Yanukovych was voted out by parliament on Saturday
Ukraine has issued a warrant for the arrest of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the interim interior minister has announced.
Arsen Avakov said on Facebook that a criminal case had been opened against Mr Yanukovych and other officials over “mass murder of peaceful citizens”.
MPs voted to remove Mr Yanukovych on Saturday after months of protest sparked by his rejection of an EU deal.
A crackdown on the protests last week left dozens dead.
Russia, furious at the loss of its political ally, has strongly condemned the parliamentary action, and has recalled its ambassador for consultation.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the opposition “had in effect seized power in Kyiv, refused to disarm and continued to place its bets on violence”.
Crimean protests
“An official case for the mass murder of peaceful citizens has been opened,” Mr Avakov said in his statement.
“Yanukovych and other people responsible for this have been declared wanted.”
The statement said Mr Yanukovych was last seen in Balaklava on the Crimean peninsula on Sunday, but that he had left by car for an unknown destination, accompanied by an aide.
Protesters say they will not leave the Maidan until elections are held
The square has become a shrine to those killed in last week’s violence
Before leaving Balaklava he gave his state-appointed security detail the choice to leave him, with many choosing to do so, the statement said.
It did not say which other figures were covered by the warrant.
Mr Avakov was appointed interim interior minister on Saturday, in a day of fast-paced events in parliament.
He replaced Vitaly Zakharchenko, who was sacked the day before after being blamed for the deaths of civilians in the crackdown on protesters.
Mr Avakov and Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, who was appointed by the interim authorities to oversee security matters, have travelled to Crimea to defuse tensions, according to media reports.
The peninsula is an autonomous region, where the majority of the population is ethnically Russian. It has seen protests against the overthrow of Mr Yanukovych.
Pro-Russian groups have staged protests in ethnically Russian-majority Crimea
Mr Avakov said it was “very important not to provoke anybody with excessive emotions”, and that there should be “no repetition of the picture of confrontation that we saw in Kyiv when the authorities went against the people”.
“I think that through peaceful dialogue we can return everything to a state of calm,” the 5 Kanal TV station quoted him as saying.
Looming debt crisis
The protests first began in late November when Mr Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
The health ministry says 88 people, mostly anti-Yanukovych protesters but also police, are now known to have been killed in last week’s clashes.
Mr Yanukovych insisted on Saturday that he was still Ukraine’s legitimate leader. But he had become increasingly isolated and parliament voted to impeach him and hold presidential elections in May.
Continue reading the main story
Yanukovych’s flight from Kyiv
- 21 Feb: leaves Kyiv for Kharkiv on helicopter; stays overnight in state residence
- 22 Feb: flies by helicopter to Donetsk airport; tries to leave on private jet but stopped by border guards; leaves by car for Crimea
- 23 Feb: arrives in Balaklava, Crimea, and stays briefly in a private spa before making aborted attempt to reach Belbek airport
- leaves Balaklava in a three-car convoy with some guards and ex-presidential administration head Andriy Kluyev
- Source: Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov
On the same day, thousands of protesters were able to walk unchallenged into official presidential buildings in the capital, and into Mr Yanukovych’s home just north of Kyiv, after police abandoned their posts.
Thousands of people remain in Kyiv’s Independence Square, the Maidan, where they have been protesting for months.
Correspondents say the atmosphere at the square is now largely calm, and it has become a shrine to the dead.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to visit Kyiv on Monday to discuss EU support “for a lasting solution to the political crisis and measures to stabilise the economic situation”.
Meanwhile, the new interim Finance Minister, Yuriy Kolobov, has said Ukraine needs around $35bn (£21bn) in urgent foreign aid and asked for an international donors’ conference to be held.
Moscow recently agreed to provide $15bn to support Ukraine’s struggling economy, a move seen as a reward for Mr Yanukovych’s controversial decision last year not to sign the long-planned trade deal with the EU.
But there are fears Moscow could withdraw that offer. Ukraine has state debts of some $73bn, with around $6bn to be paid this year.