KIEV, March 14 (RAPSI) – Ukraine’s former Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Ratushniak, and ex-commander of Interior Ministry forces Stanislac Shuliak, have been put on a wanted list, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced Friday.

The senior police officials are being sought on suspicion of conspiracy and abuse of office. Their current locations are unknown, and a search is presently underway.

Ratushniak and Shuliak were among the officials deemed by the new Ukrainian authorities to be responsible for the fatalities during the recent riots and clashes in Kiev.

Earlier, a leaked phone call between Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, implied that the snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kiev were allegedly linked to “somebody from the new coalition.”

It took place after Paet visited Kiev on February 25, following intense street battles between police and protesters that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.
On February 22, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada impeached Viktor Yanukovich and amended the constitution. Presidential authority was assigned to parliament speaker Olexandr Turchynov and a presidential election was scheduled for May 25.

The impeachment vote came one day after opposition parties signed an agreement with Yanukovych on a political settlement to form a unity government, call early elections and reform the constitution.

Russia has denounced the events in Ukraine as an armed coup. President Vladimir Putin said during a news conference in March that Yanukovych remains Ukraine’s legitimate president.