The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) says it is still unaware of disgraced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's whereabouts, which makes investigative and other legal procedures with him impossible.

The PGO said it received a motion on August 16, 2016 from lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk representing Yanukovych's interests regarding the questioning of certain witnesses in the criminal case, including simultaneously with questioning Yanukovych himself, via a videoconference.

Yanukovych is currently hiding from Ukrainian investigative and judicial bodies, and therefore "he has been declared wanted, which, in turn, makes it impossible for the pretrial investigative body to hold investigative and other legal procedures with him," the PGO said.

"The information on the whereabouts (stay) of this suspect in the Russian Federation's territory is being verified. At the same time, no official confirmation has still been received from the Russian Federation's competent agencies that suspect Yanukovych is staying in this territory, which makes any investigative and other procedures with him impossible," it said.

Yanukovych has still not answered to the Ukrainian PGO's proposal that he appear at any Ukrainian embassy wherever he is staying to be questioned via a videoconference, it said.

"If suspect Yanukovych's whereabouts is determined or if he appears at a pretrial investigative institution, he will be questioned in line with the existing criminal procedural law," it said.

Serdiuk said on July 21 that Kyiv was aware of Yanukovych's current whereabouts. He said that, after the Ukrainian Justice Ministry sends relevant documents to the Russian Justice Ministry, Russia is supposed to appoint a court in Russian territory to arrange a videoconference and coordinate a date for the questioning with a Ukrainian court. "Most likely, this will be a court at the place where he is living now, namely in Rostov-on-Don," Serdiuk said.

Yanukovych's defense team had informed the Ukrainian PGO about its client's exact address in Rostov-on-Don eight months ago, Serdiuk said. "We have demanded all this time that investigators arrive at this address to hold investigative procedures, but the [Ukrainian] PGO has denied the questioning on farfetched formal pretexts," he said.

Serdiuk sent a motion to the Ukrainian PGO on August 17 on initiating certain legal procedures, including the questioning of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other high-ranking officials in Yanukovych's presence via a videoconference.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said on August 18 that he supported a face-to-face interrogation with Yanukovych but insisted that this must be arranged in Ukrainian territory.

A prosecutorial source told Interfax on August 19 that the Prosecutor General's Office denied Yanukovych a face-to-face interrogation with incumbent officials.