KIEV, Aug. 7 - Sending a summons to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for questioning is a formal part of the procedure of his trial in absentia, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said.

"The court sanctioned a special criminal investigation on suspicion that former President Yanukovych ordered that the establishment of a specially dedicated telecommunication line on the basis of Ukrtelecom be financed from the national budget during Ukrtelecom's privatization," Serhiy Horbatiuk, the chief of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office special investigations directorate, said at a news briefing in Kiev on Thursday.

This very charge served as grounds to notify Yanukovych of being suspected of having committed a crime and sanction his inclusion in the international wanted list, he said.