KIEV: The Ukrainian acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Monday that an arrest warrant has been issued for the country’s ex-President Viktor Yanukovich over the mass murder of peaceful citizens.
“We have initiated criminal proceedings concerning the massacre of peaceful civilians. Yanukovich along with other officials has been put on the wanted list,” Avakov said.
The Ukrainian parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday and named Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s newly-elected speaker, as interim president.
US warns Russia against sending military troops into Ukraine
The US National Security Advisor Susan Rice warned Russia against sending military troops into Ukraine.
“That would be a grave mistake. It’s not in the interests of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or the United States to see a country split. It’s in nobody’s interest to see violence return and the situation escalates,” Rice said while speaking on the NBC program “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“There is not an inherent contradiction … between a Ukraine that has longstanding historic and cultural ties to Russia and a modern Ukraine that wants to integrate more closely with Europe. This need not be mutually exclusive,” she added.
