Cars drive past sightseers on a bridge over the Moskva river near a Stalin era skyscraper in central Moscow March 1, 2012. REUTERS/Anton Golubev ( Ousted Ukrainian president surfaces for the first time since going on the run five days ago, as armed pro-Russian separatists take over a parliament building in the Crimea

Ukraine's deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych, has surfaced for the first time since going on the run five days ago, declaring that he had fled to Russia but still proclaiming himself the "legal head of the Ukrainian state".

In his first comments since a warrant was issued against him for mass murder, Mr Yanukovych confirmed rumours that he had sought refuge in neighbouring Russia, but said considered the charges against him to be illegal.

"I still consider myself to be the legal head of the Ukrainian state," said he said in a statement sent to Russian news agencies. "I am compelled to ask the Russian Federation to ensure my personal security from the actions of extremists."

He added that decisions by the new Ukrainian parliament "do not have legitimate character." Separately, government sources in Russia confirmed that they had agreed to ensure his "personal safety".

Mr Yanukovych's exact whereabouts are still a matter of speculation. He was last seen with a few key aides in the fishing village of Crimea over the weekend, where he told the bulk of his bodyguard entourage that they were free to leave him.

Reports in the last 24 hours have placed him at various hotels in Moscow and at a sanitorium run by the Russian department of presidential affairs, on a highway west of the capital.

A Russian official was quoted as saying that Moscow has accepted the plea of fugitive President Yanukovych who had asked for protection.

Three Russian news agencies quoted an unnamed official saying that Mr Yanukovych's request for protection "was satisfied on the territory of Russia."

Mr Yanukovych, who fled from Ukraine's capital Kiev last week, said in the Thursday statement that he still considers himself to be the legitimate leader.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovich attend a signing ceremony after a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian Interstate Commission at the Kremlin in Moscow, December 17, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Mr Yanukovych surfaced as Ukraine new pro-Western leader warned Russia against "military aggression" after armed pro-Russian separatists stormed government buildings in the eastern Crimean region.

The comments from Oleksander Turchinov, the acting president, came as militiamen carrying automatic weapons raised the Russian flag over Crimea's regional parliament buildings.

The move, which will raise fears of the country splitting into pro-Eastern and pro-Western factions, follows a massive show of force from Russia near the Ukrainian border, including measures to tighten security at its Black Sea Fleet port that it rents from Ukraine in Sevastopol.

Mr Turchinov, who is also the head of Ukraine's armed forces, told the Ukrainian parliament: "I am appealing to the military leadership of the Russian Black Sea fleet ... Any military movements, the more so if they are with weapons, beyond the boundaries of this territory (the base) will be seen by us as military aggression."

He also described the men who had seized the Crimean regional parliament as "Criminals in military fatigues".

Sensing a potential flashpoint in the making, the government of neighbouring Poland, which helped broker last week's peace talks between pro and anti-government factions, also warned the gunmen that they could be dragging into civil war.

"This is a drastic step and I'm warning those who did this and those who allowed them to do this, because this is how regional conflicts begin," said Poland's foreign minister, ". "This is a very dangerous game."

A Reuters correspondent on the scene in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, said the door of the parliament was blockaded from inside by tables and chairs and no one was now able to enter.

Interfax news agency quoted a witness as saying there were about 60 people inside and that they had many weapons. It said no one had been hurt when the buildings were seized in the early hours of Thursday.

"I heard gunfire in the night, came down and saw lots of people going in. Some then left. I'm not sure how many are still in there," a 30-year-old man who gave his name only as Roman told Reuters.

Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership in Kiev following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday.

Ukraine's new leaders have been voicing alarm over signs of separatism there. The seizure of the building was confirmed by the country's acting interior minister, Ukrainian television said, but he gave few details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored calls by some ethnic Russians in Crimea to reclaim the territory handed to then Soviet Ukraine by Soviet Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

The United States says any Russian military action would be a grave mistake.

Ethnic Tatars who support Ukraine's new leaders and pro-Russia separatists had confronted each other outside the regional parliament on Wednesday.

A local Tatar leader, Refat Chubarov, said on Facebook: "I have been told that the buildings of parliament and the council of ministers have been occupied by armed men in uniforms that do not bear any recognisable insignia."

"They have not yet made any demands," he said.

Arsen Avakov, the acting Interior Minister, wrote on Facebook that men with "automatic weapons" occupied the regional parliament building. Police and interior ministry troops have been deployed to the area and formed a chain around the building "to prevent bloodshed amongst the civil population," he wrote.

"A number of other measures have been adopted to counter the development of extremist actions and prevent the situation from developing into an armed conflict in the city centre."

About 100 police were gathered in front of the parliament building. Doors into the building appeared to have been blocked by wooden crates.

The streets around the parliament were mostly empty apart from people going to work.

Yanukovich was ousted after three months of unrest led by protesters in Kiev. He is now on the run being sought by the new authorities for murder in connection with the deaths of around 100 people during the conflict.

With a part of Russia's Black Sea fleet based in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea it is the only region of Ukraine where ethnic Russians dominate in numbers, although many ethnic Ukrainians in other eastern areas speak Russian as their first language.

The Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, were victimised by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in World War Two and deported en masse to Soviet Central Asia in 1944 on suspicion of collaborating with Nazi Germany.

Tens of thousands of them returned to their homeland after Ukraine gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

Pro Russian vigilantes established check points on roads leading into Sevastopol on Wednesday, checking cars for suspected revolutionaries from the capital.

Men in camouflage uniforms and leather jackets bearing the insignia of the Night Wolves biker gang stopped a car carrying telegraph journalists last night

They demanded journalists present documents but grew aggressive when asked what they were looking for.

"I'm defending my country. Now get out of here," said one.