Ukraine issues warrant for Yanukovich

Viktor Yanukovich. File picture: Reuters

Viktor Yanukovich. File picture: Reuters

Published Feb 24, 2014

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Kiev -

Ukraine issued an arrest warrant for ousted president Viktor Yanukovich on Monday as the country's new rulers launched a probe over the “mass murder” of protesters in a week of carnage in Kiev.

“A criminal case has been launched over the mass murder of peaceful civilians.

“Yanukovych and a number of other officials have been put on a wanted list,” acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement posted on his Facebook account.

Earlier, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies said they had no information regarding the whereabouts of Yanukovich, who was reportedly seen in Sevastopol, a port on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula that is the home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

After signing an agreement with the opposition to end a conflict that turned deadly, Yanukovich fled the capital for eastern Ukraine.

He tried to fly out of the country on Saturday, but was stopped by Ukraine's border service.

Opposition lawmaker Volodym Kurennoy said on his Facebook page that he had unconfirmed information that the president had been arrested in Crimea.

Ukrainian news portal Liga.net reports that Sevastopol residents saw Yanukovich in the company of Russian Marines.

Spokesmen for the Interior Ministry and Security Service in Crimea said on Monday they had no such information. - AFP and Sapa-AP

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