Russia's economy minister warned Ukraine in an interview on Monday that Moscow will raise import duties on its goods if Kiev signs a partnership agreement with the European Union.

"We say to Ukraine: you have the right to go your own way," Alexei Ulyukayev was quoted as telling German business daily Handelsblatt.

Ukraine said on Monday it will need $35 billion in urgent foreign assistance and asked Western donors to convene an international conference within two weeks to agree a financial rescue plan.

Interim finance minister Yuriy Kolobov said in a statement that the "planned volume of macroeconomic assistance for Ukraine may reach around $35 billion (25 billion euros)" by the end of next year

Ukraine issued an arrest warrant Monday for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych over the "mass murder" of protesters and appealed for $35 billion in Western aid to pull the ex-Soviet country back from the brink of economic collapse.

The dramatic announcements by ex-Soviet country's new Western-leaning ministers -- approved by parliament over a chaotic weekend that saw the pro-Russian leader flee into hiding -- came as a top EU envoy flew to Kiev to buttress its sudden tilt away from Moscow.

Russia is calling its ambassador to Ukraine back to Moscow for "consultations", the foreign ministry said Sunday, after tumult in Kiev led to pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych being toppled and replaced with a pro-EU leadership from the opposition.

"Due to the escalation of the situation in Ukraine and the necessity of analyzing the existing situation from all sides, a decision has been made to recall the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine (Mikhail) Zurabov to Moscow for consultations," the foreign ministry said in a statement late Sunday.

Ukraine's new interim president said on Sunday that he was open to dialogue with Russia as long as Moscow respected his country's decision to seek closer ties with the European Union.

"We are ready for a dialogue with Russia... that takes into account Ukraine's European choice, which I hope will be confirmed in (presidential) elections" set for May 25, Oleksandr Turchynov said in a television address.

The bodyguards of two close allies of Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych fired on border guards when they were blocked from trying to escape the country, an official said Sunday.

Several Yanukovych allies have reportedly attempted to flee -- as the former president did too -- or defected over the past days as deadly clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in Kiev sparked a series of rapid-fire political changes that saw parliament come under opposition control.

Waving placards calling for "Mother Russia" to save them, thousands of people rallied Sunday in Ukraine's port city of Sevastopol to denounce the political upheaval in Kiev as fears grow that the country could splinter.

Home to Russia's Black Sea fleet for some 200 years, Sevastopol in Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region is a bastion of pro-Moscow sentiment in the deeply divided ex-Soviet state where mass protests have forced Kremlin-allied president Viktor Yanukovich to flee the capital.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Sunday that Ukraine's "territorial integrity" must be ensured, the German government spokesman said, as the U.S. said it was in no one's interest to see Ukraine break apart.

Merkel spoke by phone with Putin and "both agreed that Ukraine must quickly get a government capable of acting and its territorial integrity must be preserved," Steffen Seibert said.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday praised Ukraine's army for staying out of the political crisis rocking the "close partner" of the Western alliance.

"I commend the statement of the Ukrainian army that it will in no way intervene in the political crisis," Rasmussen said in a statement following the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukraine's opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said Sunday that she would not seek the post of prime minister in a new coalition government formed following the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych.

"Information that I was being considered for the post of prime minister of Ukraine came as a surprise," the former premier said in a statement released by her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party.