REPORT: Ukraine wants runaway president to face international justice

Ukraine's parliament voted on Tuesday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovich to be tried by the International Criminal Court for "serious crimes" committed during violent anti-government protests in which scores were killed.             

A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovich, who was ousted on Saturday and is now on the run, to police violence against protesters which it said had led to the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states.           

The Hague-based court said it would need a request from the government of Ukraine giving it jurisdiction over the deaths.             

With early elections set for May 25, one of Ukraine's most prominent opposition figures, retired world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, confirmed he would run for president.        

Yanukovich was indicted for "mass murder" on Monday over the shooting of demonstrators and is now on the wanted list, having last been seen at Balaclava in Crimea, near Russia's Sevastopol naval base.            

An aide said be on the run with Yanukovich was shot in the leg, his spokesman said. It was not clear where the aide, Andriy Klyuev, was, or whether he with the fugitive leader.       

The assembly resolution said former interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and former prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka, who are also being sought by the authorities, should also be sent for trial at the ICC.            

"Parliament asks the International Criminal Court to hold Viktor Yanukovich and other high-level people criminally responsible for issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders", the resolution said.

This comes after Ukraine's parliament put off plans to vote on the formation of a national unity government until Thursday to allow consultations to continue.   

"The vote on the national unity government should be on Thursday," Oleksander Turchinov, the speaker of the assembly and the acting president, told the chamber. The vote had been expected to take place during Tuesday's session. 

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine must not be forced to choose between close ties with Russia or the West.   

"It is dangerous and counterproductive to try to force upon Ukraine a choice on the principle: 'You are either with us or against us'," Lavrov said at a joint news conference after talks with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission posted an election calendar online, which gives candidates until April 4 to register for the race. 

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the commission chief as saying that he didn't foresee any legal obstacles for any of the candidates currently being discussed, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a top political rival of President Viktor Yanukovych. 

Tymoshenko was released from prison on Saturday.    

Ukraine is being governed by an interim government led by parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov.    

Authorities in Kiev have issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych over the killing of 82 people, primarily demonstrators, in clashes between protesters and police.