Ukraine's parliament Thursday approved Arseny Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister even as ousted president Viktor Yanukovych issued a statement denouncing decisions being made by the Ukrainian parliament as illegitimate.
Yatsenyuk's appointment was supported by 371 lawmakers in the 450-member assembly, after leaders of the country's anti-government protest movement proposed Yatsenyuk's nomination as the head of the cabinet Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
Yatsenyuk, a 39-year-old politician, economist and lawyer, served as the head of Ukraine's national bank, parliament speaker, economy minister and foreign minister before 2010, when ousted President Viktor Yanukovych was in office.
Yatsenyuk is one of the leaders of the anti-government protests which began last November to back the country's European integration and which turned violent Feb 18.
Following the violence, which left over 80 people dead, the country's parliament sacked president Yanukovych and dismissed the government.
Meanwhile, Yanukovych issued a statement Thursday via Russian media denouncing decisions being made by the Ukrainian parliament, the Supreme Rada, as illegitimate.
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Speaking for the first time since fleeing the capital Feb 21, Yanukovych said via Russia's Interfax news agency that he remained the legitimate president and no orders to Ukrainian troops could be executed without his consent.
"I, Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovych, am addressing the people of Ukraine. I still believe myself to be the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state elected in a free vote by Ukrainian citizens," he said in the address obtained by Interfax.
Yanukovych, whom the Ukrainian opposition declared as self-removed from power following months of unrest in Ukraine, also admitted he has asked the Russian authorities to ensure his personal security.
He called for the situation in his country returning to the constitutional field and insisted the crisis settlement deal reached with the opposition last Friday has not been fulfilled.
Yanukovych's exact whereabouts are still unknown after he reportedly left the capital city Feb 21 to take part in a regional meeting in Kharkov city in east Ukraine. The country's interim general prosecutor later said an international arrest warrant had been requested for the ousted president.
Earlier Thursday, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Alexandr Turchynov, who is also the acting head of the state, urged Russia to refrain from allowing its naval troops to venture beyond the base of the Russia's Black Sea Fleet on the southern Crimean peninsula.
"Any movement of armed militaries outside the borders of their territory will be regarded as military aggression," Xinhua quoted Turchynov as telling the parliament.
Turchynov's remarks came after a squad of armed people seized the buildings of the Crimean government and parliament earlier in the day. Witnesses said that Russian flags were raised over both the buildings.
In April 2010, Ukraine renewed the lease of Russia's Black Sea Fleet on its Crimean peninsula by 25 years in exchange for gas price discounts.