Interpol places former President Yanukovych on ‘wanted’ list, former Prime Minister Azarov missing

His name appeared on the international police agency’s ‘wanted’
list on charges of “misappropriation, embezzlement or
conversion of property by malversation, if committed in respect of an
especially gross amount, or by an organized group.”

The move will come as some relief
to Ukraine’s post-revolutionary government, who have faced fierce criticism for failing to gather enough evidence of human rights violations or corruption to obtain the Interpol red notice and support
EU sanctions against former regime officials.

Ukraine’s Minister for Internal Affairs, Arseniy Avakov,
announced that after “argument and explanation” and “months after the submission
of a request from the Interior Ministry, Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the
Security Service,” Interpol had appointed a special commission to deal with the
request.

“On the international wanted list of Interpol (red notice –
wanted for extradition to Ukraine):  Viktor
F. Yanukovych, Olexander Yanukovych, Azarov Mykola Azarov, Bogatyreva Raisa [former
Health Minister], Kolobov Yu (former Minister of Finance), Dzekon GB (Former
head of Ukrtelecom),” he posted on Facebook.

However, while former President Yanukovych appeared on
Interpol’s website this morning, some of the other fugitives listed by Avakov did
not appear alongside him, including Yanukovych’s son Olexander, former Health
Minister Raisa Bagatyreva and former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

An Interpol
spokeswoman declined to say whether a red notice had been issued for the former
Prime Minister or the others, but told the Kyiv Post that there were only two
reasons they would not be listed:

“When we issue a red notice it is either made public or restricted
to law enforcement agencies,” she said. “Either there is no red notice for that
person, or the country has requested that the red notice not be made public.“

Given Avakov’s facebook post and the intense pressure on the
government to bring its former officials to justice, it seems incredibly unlikely
that Ukraine has requested the names be restricted to law enforcement.

Notably, even the charges listed on Yanukovych’s Interpol red
notice are limited to his alleged pilfering of state funds, although Ukraine’s new
government has accused him of ordering security forces to fire live rounds
at protesters, causing more than a hundred deaths in February 2014. The limited
charges suggest Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s office has so far failed to build a convincing case
against former regime officials for the slaughter.

(UPDATE: By 1800 EET former Prime Minister Azarov’s picture had been posted on the Interpol site, but the picture leads to a dead link.)