Ousted Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych has backed Russia’s version of the situation in his country, saying a junta in Kiev had provoked Crimea to secede by spreading lawlessness and refusing to protect civilians from violence.
“The cities are being patrolled by masked gunmen,” said Yanukovych, who made a statement to the press in the southern Russian city of Rostov- on-Don. This new government is firing officers from the army, those officers, who don’t want lawlessness committed against civilians.
They want civil war to break out’, he stated Tension is still high in Ukraine as pro-Russian forces stronghold on Crimea: Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea, despite a U.S. warning to Moscow that annexing Southern Ukrainian region would close the door to diplomacy in a tense East-West standoff.
Yanukovych, who read from a statement in Russian and did not take questions, accused the West and the United States of backing fascists in Ukraine, another regular allegation being made by Russian authorities. “There is a gang of ultranationalists and fascists operating the government. I would like to ask those, who cover for these dark forces in the West: Are you blind? Have you forgotten what fascism is?”, he asked.
Yanukovych last appeared in public on February 28, in a press conference in Rostov, when he asserted he was still the legal President of Ukraine and that he was not calling upon Russia to intervene militarily. The next day, Russia’s parliament authorized President Vladimir Putin to send troops to Ukraine and soon after Russia asserted that Yanukovych had requested for intervention.
On March 6, after gunmen took over the regional parliament building in the Crimean city of Simpferopol, a pro-Russian leadership was installed. Then the regional parliament voted behind closed doors for Crimea to leave Ukraine and join Russia, setting a referendum for Sunday to validate their decision.
Yanukovych railed against the United States on Tuesday for offering $1 billion in aid to the new Ukrainian government in Kiev and said he intended to ask the U.S. Congress, Senate and Supreme Court to investigate its legality.
American law, he asserted, prevented aid to unconstitutional governments. The deposed president began his statement by declaring he was alive, contrary to some rumors that had suggested his death. He was still commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, he said, and while he did not try to give any military orders in his statement he said that Ukrainian officers knew better than to take orders from a “fascist government.”
Although Putin reportedly dislikes Yanukovych, and thought he should have acted more harshly against protestors, he has given him refuge in Russia. Yanukovych said he would return to Ukraine when conditions improved.
“You must know that one day the country will unite,” he said. “The people will not remain so blinded.”
Source: New Telegraph
