Ex-President Yanukovych Calls Ukraine's Post-Coup Years Darkest In Country's History

Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych called the five years since the coup in the country the darkest time in the history of independent Ukraine and said that the people should know whom to blame for the coup and the loss of Crimea

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2019) Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych called the five years since the coup in the country the darkest time in the history of independent Ukraine and said that the people should know whom to blame for the coup and the loss of Crimea.

The press conference by Yanukovich was held on Wednesday in Moscow at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.

Yanukovych said that prior to the 2014 coup, the people in Ukraine could not imagine what would happen next even in a nightmare.

"I see the past five years after 2014, after the coup, as the darkest pages in the life of the independent Ukraine. Everything that happened in Ukraine after the coup could not have been imagined even in a nightmare, not only by residents of Ukraine, but also by those with close links to Ukraine," he said.

The politician said that 6 million people had left the country over five years after the coup.

At the same time, Yanukovych stressed that one should not allow a new coup in Ukraine.

"I do not even want to think about the possibility of a new Maidan. People suffer. This can't be allowed," he said.

Yanukovych served as Ukraine's president from 2010 until February 22, 2014, when he was ousted by the country's parliament after rallies in Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) led to dozens of deaths among protesters and security officers. Fearing for his life, the embattled president fled to Russia where he remains to this day. The new Kiev authorities are accusing the former president of various crimes, including treason.

The fourth president of Ukraine also said that his lawyers had filed an appeal on Tuesday to the investigators in order to establish who exactly was responsible for the coup in Ukraine and the loss of Crimea.

"The authorities have been and still are successfully implementing everything connected with the division of the country, including the loss of Crimea's territory. My lawyers yesterday filed documents with the investigative authorities to start an investigation who is really to blame for the loss of Crimea. The concrete perpetrators: who violated the constitution of Ukraine and committed a coup in Ukraine? Who shot innocent people who went to rallies, and security officers who defended the rule of law and the constitution," he said.

These questions are necessary to be asked, because the country has been living in a lie for five years, Yanukovych added.

According to the former president, the incumbent Ukrainian authorities should sit down at the negotiating table with the representatives of Donbas.

"It's necessary to sit down at the negotiating table with the citizens of Ukraine who live in Donbas ... [Incumbent Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko must make a decision and sit down at the negotiating table with representatives of Donbas, residents of Ukraine. And this is the way to solve this conflict, I am convinced," Yanukovych said.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR), which declared independence after the coup. According to the latest UN data, over 10,000 people were killed the conflict. In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the fighting in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.

Yanukovych believes that the incumbent Ukrainian leader Poroshenko will try to win the upcoming presidential election at any cost, including using falsifications, since he will not be able to win honestly.

"Today, it's definitely necessary to say that current authorities will use all their resources, use any means, including both administrative resources and various technologies that will actually allow them to falsify the elections. Without falsification it's impossible for President Poroshenko to win these elections," he said.

Ukrainian presidential elections will be held on March 31. As of Tuesday, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC) has already registered 30 candidates out of a record 91 people who submitted their bids. The CEC must make decisions on all potential candidates by February 8. According to most recent polls, the front-runner of the presidential race is comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, who enjoys support of 21.9 percent of Ukrainians, another 19.2 percent favor the head of Ukraine's pro-European Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Tymoshenko, and Poroshenko is ranked third, with just 14.8 percent of respondents backing him.

"Poroshenko is not able to win fairly at this election. He does not have enough support. And I urge the international observers not to allow him to falsify the results," Yanukovych said.

Speaking of Ukraine's intention not to open polling stations in Russia, Yanukovych noted that if Kiev considered Crimea to be Ukrainian, it must allow Ukrainians living there to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

"Poroshenko and, as they say, his company, may be asked such a question: good, Crimea is Ukrainian. Is Crimea Ukrainian? How many Ukrainians live in Crimea? Give them the opportunity, let them vote for the Ukrainian authorities. I wonder what answer they will give," he said.

The former president also called on the Ukrainian people to come to the vote so that the nation's will could "become a verdict" to the current authorities and warned against supporting those who "brought the country to the brink of disaster."

Poroshenko and other Ukrainian politicians should not have interfered in religious issues, Yanukovych said.

"The state, politicians, the president should not have meddled in religious issues in any case. The church has always been separated from the state. Throughout the history of independent Ukraine, none of the presidents allowed themselves to interfere in church affairs," he said.

Kiev's actions against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church are aimed at division and enmity, the former president added.

In mid-December 2018, the so-called unification council was held in Kiev at Poroshenko's initiative, during which the head of the new church, uniting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, two non-canonical structures, was elected. On January 6, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew handed over the tomos of autocephaly to the head of the new church.

The Russian Orthodox Church has refused to recognize the results of the council and Constantinople's decision to grant autocephaly to Ukraine's new institution.

Yanukovych also told reporters about possible assassination attempts against him and other Ukrainian politicians.

"Such information, with regard not only to me, but also to other politicians, has recently begun to emerge," he said.

In 2014, the ex-president's motorcade was fired upon by unknown persons. According to Yanukovych's lawyer, in June 2015, the Ukrainian prosecutors began to investigate the attempt on the politician.

Yanukovych also said that there was information about threats against Ukrainian Choice movement leader, Kiev's representative on Donbas settlement Viktor Medvedchuk.

"Now, they [threats] are addressed to Viktor Medvedchuk. Yes, he has long been known to everyone in politics," Yanukovych said.

The former president added that he had information about a hit squad created by Kiev to assassinate Medvedchuk.

"I received such information. I heard that a 12-member special group working in this regard had been created. I do not know if it is just for Medvedchuk. Maybe for others. Maybe for me. But there is such information," he explained.

Yanukovych also said that he often disagreed with Medvedchuk's position, but never ordered anyone to either shut up his mouth, or do something with him, or to arrange some provocations.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Medvedchuk over suspected state treason and infringement on the country's territorial integrity. Larisa Sargan, a spokeswoman for the prosecution, said the case had been initiated in connection with Medvedchuk's proposal to create an autonomous region of Donbas within Ukraine. Reacting to the matter, the Kremlin has said that information about the initiation or the possibility of initiating such a criminal case against Medvedchuk is very alarming.

Yanukovych said that the conviction, which the Ukrainian court had imposed on him in absentia for state treason, was politically motivated.

"A survey among the population showed that, on average, about 90 percent of people did not believe in the fairness of this trial which was a political order. Everyone understands that the sentence was dictated by the authorities," he said.

The sentence has absolutely nothing to do with the law, he stressed.

"Continuous violations of the criminal procedure code. Everything is built on lies and hatred. The truth is that the coup organizers are responsible for shooting people on the Maidan," he added.

Yanukovych was one of the first top officials who the current Ukrainian authorities sentenced in absentia. On January 24, Kiev's Obolonsky district court found Yanukovych guilty in the treason case and sentenced him in absentia to 13 years of imprisonment. The ex-president denies his guilt. Yanukovych's defense said the court, while considering the case, had been acting under pressure from the Ukrainian authorities, adding that the verdict was politically motivated and would be appealed.