Viktor Yanukovych in Rostov-on-Don / Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Interpol has put former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on the wanted list, according to a card on the Interpol website. The wording of the charges is "misuse, illegal appropriation or alienation of state property on an especially large scale or as part of an organized group." The card's status is "red": after his arrest, Yanukovych must be extradited to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page that in addition to the country's former president, Yanukovych's son Oleksandr, former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and several other former officials, including former Health Minister Raisa Bogatyreva, former Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov, and former head of Ukrtelecom Georgy Dzekon, are also on the international wanted list. "Work with Interpol on a number of other individuals accused by Ukraine continues," Avakov noted.

According to the minister, Russia, on the contrary, ignores documents on the search for 24 people who previously held high positions in Ukraine, including Viktor Yanukovych and his son. "In addition to these characters, several dozen second-tier people suspected of crimes on the part of Ukraine have not been artificially declared wanted in Russia and in the CIS system as a whole," Avakov wrote.

In December 2014, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said that Interpol was not responding to Ukraine's requests to put Yanukovych on the wanted list. "During negotiations, they tell us that Yanukovych's wanted list is supposed to be politically persecuted," Yarema noted.

The new Ukrainian government has stated that the country's former authorities stole about 70 million euros from the state budget over four years. Some valuables purchased with this money were allegedly found in the former president's Mezhyhirya residence. Ukraine subsequently blocked $1.34 billion in the accounts of companies associated with Yanukovych. Last spring, the Swiss authorities froze his assets in the amount of $193 million, and the Liechtenstein government - $30 million. The former president himself claimed that he "never had any accounts abroad."

In mid-November, the Prosecutor General's Office opened more than 30 criminal cases against Yanukovych and his team. In his article "The List of Justice" in the weekly "Zerkalo Nedeli Ukraine," Yarema noted that the top item on his list is the investigation into the large-scale embezzlement of budget funds. "In order to compensate for the losses incurred by the state during the pre-trial investigation, bank deposits, securities, and other assets totaling more than UAH 6.2 billion and $1.8 billion (about UAH 35 billion), as well as movable and immovable property of former high-ranking officials, have been seized," the Prosecutor General wrote (quoted by Interfax).

Interpol puts Viktor Yanukovych on wanted list