Ukraine’s elite Berkut police unit disbanded

Ukraine’s elite Berkut police unit – blamed for the deaths of protesters – has been disbanded, acting interior minister Arsen Avakov has said.

It is unclear what will happen to Berkut officers, but Arsen Avakov said more details would be given in a briefing on Wednesday.

Berkut unit had 4,000-5,000 members stationed across Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a new cabinet is expected to be presented to protesters in Kiev on Wednesday afternoon.

Also on Wednesday, Oleksandr Turchynov announced that he had assumed the duties of the head of the armed forces.

Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev at the weekend and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Interim authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest, and on Tuesday parliament voted in favor of trying him at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Fugitive Viktor Yanukovych is accused of being behind the deaths of more than 100 protesters at the hands of riot police.

The much-despised Berkut are just one part of the security and law enforcement agencies, which have long been accused by human rights groups and local citizens of human rights abuses.

Also on Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on other countries to condemn “nationalist and neo-fascist” sentiment in western Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov called on the OSCE to condemn “calls to ban the Russian language, to turn the Russian-speaking population into <<non-citizens>> and to restrict freedom of expression”.

Russia has portrayed the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych as a violent seizure of power by the opposition, and has expressed concern about the role of far-right parties in the protests against him.

The US and EU countries have broadly backed the takeover of power by the opposition.

Many Russian-speaking residents in the south and east of Ukraine have protested against the actions of the interim authorities.

Tensions are rising in Crimea, where two big rival protests are being staged.

Crimean Tatars and local activists supporting the demonstrators in Kiev have gathered in front of the autonomous republic’s parliament in Simferopol.