Ukraine's interim govt calls for $35 billion in urgent aid

Kiev issues arrest warrant for deposed president Yanukovych and his allies

Ukraine's interim government said on Monday the country needs $35 billion in foreign assistance over the next two years and appealed for urgent aid.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry said it had called for a donor's conference and needed the first tranche of aid in the next week or two.

Acting President Oleksander Turchinov, appointed after Viktor Yanukovych was stripped of his powers by Parliament on Saturday, said on Sunday Ukraine was near default and the economy was falling into an abyss.

"Over the past two days, we have had consultations and meetings with the EU and US ambassadors and other countries and financial institutions on the urgent delivery of macro-financial assistance for Ukraine," Acting Finance Minister Yuri Kolobov said in a statement.

He said the international donor conference should involve representatives of the European Union, the United States and the International Monetary Fund.

Ukraine faces state debt payments of around $6 billion in the remainder of this year.

In an address to the nation, Turchinov on Sunday spelled out the enormity of the task facing Ukraine, and identified stabilizing the economy as a priority.

"Against the background of global economic recovery, the Ukrainian economy is heading into the abyss and is in a pre-default state," he said.

"The task of the new government is to stop the country's slide into the abyss, to stabilize the exchange rate, guarantee the timely payment of salaries, pensions and stipends, and to regain the confidence of investors, promote the development of enterprises and the creation of new jobs."

The Ukrainian currency, the hyrvnia, fell about 2.4 percent against the US dollar in early trading on Monday.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for dismissed president Viktor Yanukovych and his close allies.

"We have opened a criminal case on the mass murder of civilians. Yanukovych and several other officials are on the wanted list," interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said, adding that the ousted president is believed to reside in the Crimean peninsula in the south of the country.

Yanukovych left the capital late on Friday to take part in a regional meeting in the city of Kharkov near the Russian border after signing an agreement with the opposition to end the conflict, according to media reports. On Saturday, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a resolution to dismiss Yanukovych from his post.

The same day, the presidential plane tried to take off from the airport in eastern Ukraine, but was denied permission for lack of proper documents, according to the State Border Service.

So far, more than 80 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured during anti-government protests, which began last November, with demonstrators demanding the nation's integration into the European Union.

Russia said on Monday that it believes the US National Security Adviser Susan Rice should urge her own country's leadership - rather than Russia - to avoid the use of force, according to a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry cited by the Interfax News Agency.

Rice, US President Barack Obama's security adviser, said on Sunday that the possibility of Russia sending troops to Ukraine would be a "grave mistake".

"We have seen the expert evaluations of Susan Rice, which are based on repeated US military interventions in multiple places around the world, especially where the US administration is of the opinion that the norms of Western democracy are in danger or ruling regimes begin too clearly 'to get out hand'," Interfax cited the source as saying.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 02/25/2014 page12)