Missing Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych has been smuggled out of the country by the CIA, claims Russian government

Claims made in Vladimir Putin' s official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Alleges that U.S. has offered tyrant new life if he left the political stage

Says Yanukovych would have continued resistance 'if he had not received weighty guarantees of safety '

' Who could give guarantees in the prevailing situation? Only Washington'

Report will be seen as smokescreen for claims Russia is shielding ally

'Corruption' papers found in tyrant's lake uploaded to WikiLeaks-style site



Flown to a new life? Russia's official state newspaper claims disgraced Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych (pictured) has been smuggled out of the country by the CIA

Russia today claimed that the CIA could be behind the disappearance of toppled Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

The official newspaper of Vladimir Putin's government alleged that American intelligence may have secretly flown the disgraced tyrant - now accused of mass murder - to a new life after giving him personal guarantees if he left the political stage.

The extraordinary claim in Rossiyskaya Gazeta will inevitably be seen as a smokescreen for similar suspicions that Russia is now shielding former ally Yanukovych, possibly at the headquarters of the Black Sea fleet in Crimea.

But today's theory from Moscow's official newspaper that the CIA may be behind his disappearance is the most intriguing yet in a 'Where's Viktor?' hunt that has gripped governments and the media since the weekend revolution in Kiev.

'Where is Viktor Yanukovych?' asked an article on the website of Russia's state-owned newspaper of record.

'The intelligence agencies of many countries, hundreds of politicians and experts, thousands of interested persons in Kiev, and millions of Ukrainians racked their brains over this question.

'He could not have simply disappeared into thin air. He is a recognisable politician, after all, even a very recognisable one.

'And at this point, the entirely logical question comes to mind: Has he not been hidden by people who are very adept at covering tracks? That is to say, by the Americans.'

The article stated that 'many people thought it strange how easily Yanukovych raised the white flag and signed an agreement that obviously no-one apart from himself intended to fulfil' after the involvement of the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France.

The Kremlin newspaper claimed that 'it was obvious that the main 'guarantors' of this document were not European diplomats, but their counterparts from across the Atlantic.

'Yanukovych would definitely have continued to resist if he had not received sufficiently weighty guarantees of safety for himself, his family, and his innermost circle,' stated the Russian version.

Making ties: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (who is no longer using the wheelchair she was in when she left prison) shakes hands with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in Kiev

CORRUPTION EVIDENCE UPLOADED TO WIKILEAKS-STYLE WEBSITE

Documents recovered from Yanukovych's presidential home that reportedly show evidence of widespread corruption have started to appear online. Journalists and volunteers have been analysing the papers after divers retrieved them from the lake at the sprawling estate in Mezhyirya. They say the documents show how millions was lavished on construction, furnitures and animals. Lesya Ivanova, one of the journalists, told Euro News: 'Some documents were collected from the surface of the water, others were retrieved by the divers.... we had to unfold and dry them immediately to preserve the information.' The papers are being uploaded to the purpose-built website Yanukovychleaks.org. Journalist Oleksandr Akymenko said: 'These documents are very valuable. They could help prove corruption schemes used by Viktor Yanukovych personally, his team and his inner circle.'

'Who could give such guarantees in the prevailing situation in Ukraine? Only Washington, which, as the latest events in Kiev show, is the 'eminence grise' behind the Maidan (Ukrainian protests).'

It has been claimed by participants in the talks that Yanukovych abruptly agreed to the agreement last week after consulting various people privately on the phone, including Putin.

Yanukovych packed his bags the same night in his vast mansion near Kiev, evidently not intending to return.

The paper claimed that the US may have learned from other revolutions where the bloody fate of the toppled tyrant became a spectacle.

'It is possible to understand the Americans. They needed not Yanukovych, but Ukraine.

'At the same time, Washington is clearly not interested in a repetition of the bloody reprisal against Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi in a European state.

'In other words, the State Department could have given Yanukovych any safety guarantees, so long as he disappeared from the Ukrainian political stage.

'And the Americans are past masters at disappearing people. Take the episode of the CIA's flying prisons alone.'

The newspaper also denied reports that the Russians which have major military facilities in Sevastopol - close to the last alleged sighting of on-the-run Yanukovych in Balaclava - was now in Moscow's hands.

'Yanukovych is not in the facilities or ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,' stated Rossiyskaya Gazeta citing an 'informed military source'.

Opulent: A view of a room inside President Viktor Yanukovych's palatial estate in Mezhyhirya

Religious iconography and paintings displayed in a room inside the estate which the tyrant fled from last week

Grand: A staircase winds up inside the palatial property, which has been closed off to the world for a decade 'Reports had appeared in certain Ukrainian mass media outlets to the effect that the Ukrainian president was allegedly in Kazachya Bay in Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet's marine brigade is based. 'Information appeared to the effect that Yanukovych was in Kharkiv. But he was not found there either.

'Perhaps he has fled in the direction of the Persian Gulf? This report was immediately refuted by the authorities of the Arab states. In hiding: Yanukovych fled on Saturday as the turmoil of three months confrontation with his people caught up with him Lived in luxury: A view of a bathroom inside President Viktor Yanukovych's Mezhyhirya estate Ukrainians have poured in by their thousands onto the 140-hectare grounds for a first glimpse at a luxury 'According to unconfirmed information, the Ukrainian president has even given up his personal state guard. There is no doubt that, if this is true, it is far easier to disappear without a guard than with one. 'So just where is Yanukovych? In Kiev, he has even been placed on the wanted list. 'It cannot be ruled out, however, that the thugs who have seized power in the Ukrainian capital simply need to inquire about the whereabouts of the disappeared president from the US ambassador, who is becoming an ever more important figure on the political Olympus of "independent" Ukraine. 'However, it is unlikely that he will tell them the truth.' 'Not in Moscow's hands': A Russian Army officer helps an armored personnel carrier drive on a street in Sevastopol, close to the last alleged sighting of on-the-run Yanukovych in Balaclava Women holding flowers pass by barricades in Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest, Ukraine