Main News of February 25

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine’s parliament approved a resolution to have deposed President Viktor Yanukovych tried at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity

* The campaign for early presidential elections nominally kicked off in Ukraine as the incoming government continues in its effort to restore calm to the troubled political and economic scene

* The final US tanker aircraft supporting military operations in Afghanistan departed a Kyrgyzstan airbase ahead of the closure of the facility later this year, a US army media agency reported

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine with top security officials, his spokesman has said

* Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said in a television interview that he thinks criticism of the recently concluded Sochi Winter Games was motivated by rivalry in international politics

* Russian space industry veteran Mikhail Vardanyan has been appointed the new head of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the country’s space agency Roscosmos said

* Investigators in Russia said that they have detected 800 legal violations, mainly of labor regulations, during checks on construction work at the Vostochny space center in the Far East region of Amur

BUSINESS

* A weakening ruble could boost Russia’s federal income by $28 billion this year, pushing the treasury into surplus, according to a report published Tuesday by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics