KIEV, Feb. 25 - Parliament voted on Tuesday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych to the International Criminal Court, while his acting successor expressed concern about "signs of separatism" in Russian-speaking Crimea.

A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by parliament, linked Yanukovych, who was ousted by the legislature 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 of Ukraine and other states, Reuters reported.

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

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

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

The resolution said former interior minister Vitaliy 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 Yanukovych and other high-level people criminally responsible for issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders", the resolution said.

Ukraine never signed the treaty that created the ICC, which since its founding in 2002 has handled only cases from Africa. However, the court could intervene if Ukraine asked it to.

"A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events," said court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah, adding that it would then be up to the court's prosecutor to decide whether or not to open an investigation, Reuters reported.

The tribunal has jurisdiction over only serious international crimes, and then only if local authorities are unable or unwilling to deal with those cases themselves. Ukraine would not have any say over who might be investigated.

Acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said Yanukovych was wanted for the "mass murder of peaceful citizens".
Yanukovych left Kiev by helicopter on Friday, heading for his power base in the east, where he was prevented from flying out of the country and then diverted south to Crimea.

Yanukovych’s fall has revived fears that the former Soviet state of 46 million might split along the fault line that divides its pro-Western and pro-Russian regions.

Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov and security chiefs expressed concern at a meeting on Tuesday about threats to the country's unity in mainly Russian-speaking Crimea. This followed protests on the southern peninsula against the leaders who have taken charge in Kiev.

"We discussed the question of not allowing any signs of separatism and threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity and punishing people guilty of this," Turchynov said in a statement, referring to pro-Russian protests in Crimea.

Some of the peninsula's two million residents call openly for moves to secede from Ukraine. The size of Sicily or Massachusetts, Crimea was formally transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the Soviet Union.

In a fresh warning to the European Union and United States not to try to shape Ukraine's future, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the country must not be forced to choose between Russia and the West.

Both Russia and the West, while competing for influence over Ukraine under its new rulers, have said publicly that they do not want a split to happen.

Ashton, the first senior foreign official to visit Kiev since the overthrow of Yanukovych, said the EU understood the need for strong links between Kiev and Moscow, but that a message should be sent about Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Voicing "strong support" for Ukraine's new leaders at a news conference, Ashton urged them to form an "inclusive" government and focus on getting the country through short-term problems. She gave no details of any foreign financial help, saying the EU would work with the International Monetary Fund, which would make its own assessment of the situation.

The finance ministry in Kiev has said the country needs $35 billion in foreign help over the next two years and that the money needs to start coming in the next week or two.

Ukraine's hryvnia currency fell to record lows against the dollar on Tuesday while its dollar bonds tumbled as concerns grew about the ability of the country to pay its debts in the near-term. (rt/ez)