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Yanukovych admits it was ‘wrong’ to call for Russian troops in Crimea

Overthrown president concedes calling for Russian troops on the peninsula was 'wrong'

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 03 April, 2014, 8:58pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 April, 2014, 9:00pm

Associated Press in Rostov-On-Don



A visibly upset Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted Ukrainian president, said the annexation of Crimea was a tragedy. Photo: AP

Defensive and at times tearful, Ukraine's ousted president conceded that he made a mistake when he invited Russian troops into Crimea, and vowed to try to negotiate with Vladimir Putin to recover the Black Sea peninsula.

"Crimea is a tragedy, a major tragedy," Viktor Yanukovych said on Wednesday in his first interview since fleeing to Russia in February following months-long protests focused on corruption and his decision to seek closer ties with Russia instead of the European Union.

Putin said last month that Yanukovych had asked Russia to send its troops to Crimea to protect its people - a request seen as treason by many Ukrainians. Russian troops quickly overran Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, on the pretext of protecting Russians.

Yanukovych admitted he made a mistake. "I was wrong," he told Russia's state NTV television . "I acted on my emotions."

But Yanukovych insisted that Russia's takeover of Crimea wouldn't have happened if he had stayed in power. He also denied responsibility for the sniper deaths of about 80 protesters in Kiev in February, for which he has been charged by Ukraine's interim government.

The 63-year-old Yanukovych has rarely been seen since he was overthrown, even as he has insisted he is still the country's true leader. Putin has been dismissive of Yanukovych but the Russian president has also described him as the legitimate leader and his overthrow illegal.

Yanukovych said he had spoken to Putin only twice by phone and once in person since he arrived in Russia, and called their talks difficult. He said he hoped to have more meetings with the Russian leader to negotiate Crimea's return to Ukraine.

"We must search for ways ... so that Crimea may have the maximum degree of independence possible ... but be part of Ukraine," he said.

Russia annexed Crimea last month following a referendum held two weeks after Russian troops seized the region. Ukraine and the West rejected the vote and the annexation as illegal.

Echoing the Kremlin's position, Yanukovych said the Crimean referendum, in which residents overwhelmingly voted to join Russia, was a response to threats posed by radical nationalists in Ukraine.

However, he did not answer questions on whether he would support a move by Russia, which has deployed tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border, to move into other areas of the country on the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians.

Yanukovych echoed the key Kremlin demand for settling the Ukrainian crisis, pushing for a referendum that could turn Ukraine into a loosely knit federation. He said such a vote should be followed by constitutional reform, and only after that should Ukraine have a national election.

A presidential election is due on May 25.




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