Ousted Leader Seeks Russian Aid as Tensions Rise in CrimeaBy STEVEN LEE MYERSFEB. 27, 2014
MOSCOW — Viktor F. Yanukovych, the ousted president of Ukraine, declared on Thursday that he remained the lawful president of the country and appealed to Russia to “secure my personal safety from the actions of extremists.” Russian news agencies reported that he had already arrived in Russia, but officials did not immediately confirm that.
Mr. Yanukovych’s remarks were his first since he appeared in a video on Saturday night after fleeing Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, for eastern Ukraine. His defiance of the country’s new interim leaders only deepened the political turmoil in the country and threatened to draw Russia more deeply into the conflict.
Mr. Yanukovych, in a letter published by news agencies here, went on to suggest that largely Russian regions of Ukraine – including the east and Crimea – did not accept “the anarchy and outright lawlessness” that had gripped the country and said that orders by the new authorities to use the armed forces to impose order were unlawful. He clearly meant the response to pro-Russia demonstrations in Crimea, which took an ugly turn on Thursday morning when armed gunmen seized control of the regional Parliament in Simferopol.
“I, as the actual president, have not allowed the armed forces of Ukraine to interfere in the ongoing internal political events,” he said, contradicting early reports that he had ordered the military to intervene in Kiev, only to have his order rebuffed. “I continue to order this. In the case that anyone begins to give a similar order to the armed forces and power structures, those orders will be unlawful and criminal.”
Rumors that Mr. Yanukovych had arrived in Russia first surfaced on Wednesday night, with unnamed sources variously putting him at a hotel in Moscow — which denied it on Thursday — or in a government sanitarium outside the city. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said in a brief telephone interview that he was not able to speak on the matter now. On Wednesday night, he said he did not know if Mr. Yanukovych had arrived, but a senior member of the upper house of Parliament said he knew for a fact that it was not true.
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Recent Comments
The Real Mr. Magoo
4 hours ago
Sounds like Yanukovych is giving Putinistan the perfect pretext for invading Ukraine and, at the very least, 'liberating' Crimea.
Adam Smith
4 hours ago
Based on media reports and by all accounts, Mr. Yanukovych is a corrupt official and now is on the run.The Russian government will be well...
CDC
4 hours ago
Yanukovych's statement reads like something Louis XVI would have written if he had managed to escape the French revolutionaries in 1789. He...
See All Comments
Russia has denounced the political upheaval in Kiev and refused to recognize the interim government. At the same time, officials have expressed deep frustration with, and at times ridicule of, Mr. Yanukovych’s handling of the crisis. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s leaders were bound by an agreement mediated by three European foreign ministers. That agreement, signed last Friday, called for an interim national unity government and new elections, but not until December.
Mr. Yanukovych fled Kiev the next day, as security forces that had clashed with protesters withdrew from Kiev’s center and even members of his own party began resigning or changing sides. The new Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has since impeached him, begun to form a new government and called elections to be held in May.
With Mr. Yanukovych apparently under Russian protection, and still calling himself Ukraine’s legitimate leader, Russia now finds itself in a worsening confrontation with Europe and the United States, which have promised political and economic support for the new leaders in Kiev. “Unfortunately, everything that is happening in the Verkhovna Rada has no legitimate nature,” Mr. Yanukovych said in his letter.
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Ousted Leader Seeks Russian Aid as Tensions Rise in Crimea
By STEVEN LEE MYERSFEB. 27, 2014
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Pro-Russia protesters standing in front of the seized Parliament building in Simferopol, the regional capitol of Crimea on Thursday. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
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MOSCOW — Viktor F. Yanukovych, the ousted president of Ukraine, declared on Thursday that he remained the lawful president of the country and appealed to Russia to “secure my personal safety from the actions of extremists.” Russian news agencies reported that he had already arrived in Russia, but officials did not immediately confirm that.
Mr. Yanukovych’s remarks were his first since he appeared in a video on Saturday night after fleeing Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, for eastern Ukraine. His defiance of the country’s new interim leaders only deepened the political turmoil in the country and threatened to draw Russia more deeply into the conflict.
Mr. Yanukovych, in a letter published by news agencies here, went on to suggest that largely Russian regions of Ukraine – including the east and Crimea – did not accept “the anarchy and outright lawlessness” that had gripped the country and said that orders by the new authorities to use the armed forces to impose order were unlawful. He clearly meant the response to pro-Russia demonstrations in Crimea, which took an ugly turn on Thursday morning when armed gunmen seized control of the regional Parliament in Simferopol.
“I, as the actual president, have not allowed the armed forces of Ukraine to interfere in the ongoing internal political events,” he said, contradicting early reports that he had ordered the military to intervene in Kiev, only to have his order rebuffed. “I continue to order this. In the case that anyone begins to give a similar order to the armed forces and power structures, those orders will be unlawful and criminal.”
Rumors that Mr. Yanukovych had arrived in Russia first surfaced on Wednesday night, with unnamed sources variously putting him at a hotel in Moscow — which denied it on Thursday — or in a government sanitarium outside the city. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said in a brief telephone interview that he was not able to speak on the matter now. On Wednesday night, he said he did not know if Mr. Yanukovych had arrived, but a senior member of the upper house of Parliament said he knew for a fact that it was not true.
Continue reading the main story
Recent Comments
The Real Mr. Magoo
4 hours ago
Sounds like Yanukovych is giving Putinistan the perfect pretext for invading Ukraine and, at the very least, 'liberating' Crimea.
Adam Smith
4 hours ago
Based on media reports and by all accounts, Mr. Yanukovych is a corrupt official and now is on the run.The Russian government will be well...
CDC
4 hours ago
Yanukovych's statement reads like something Louis XVI would have written if he had managed to escape the French revolutionaries in 1789. He...
See All Comments
Russia has denounced the political upheaval in Kiev and refused to recognize the interim government. At the same time, officials have expressed deep frustration with, and at times ridicule of, Mr. Yanukovych’s handling of the crisis. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s leaders were bound by an agreement mediated by three European foreign ministers. That agreement, signed last Friday, called for an interim national unity government and new elections, but not until December.
Mr. Yanukovych fled Kiev the next day, as security forces that had clashed with protesters withdrew from Kiev’s center and even members of his own party began resigning or changing sides. The new Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has since impeached him, begun to form a new government and called elections to be held in May.
With Mr. Yanukovych apparently under Russian protection, and still calling himself Ukraine’s legitimate leader, Russia now finds itself in a worsening confrontation with Europe and the United States, which have promised political and economic support for the new leaders in Kiev. “Unfortunately, everything that is happening in the Verkhovna Rada has no legitimate nature,” Mr. Yanukovych said in his letter.
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