Ukraine’s fugitive leader warns of civil war
This Feb. 19, 2014, file photo shows Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych addressing the nation on a live TV broadcast in Kiev, Ukraine. The fugitive president said in a statement published by three Russian news agencies that he is asking Russia’s protection from “extremists.” Yanukovych, who fled from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv last week, said in the Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, statement that he still considers himself to be the legitimate leader. (AP Photo/Andrei Mosienko, Pool, File)
MOSCOW — Ukraine’s fugitive president has accused his country’s new government of fomenting a civil war and criticized the West for supporting it.
Tuesday’s statement from Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia last month after months of protests, was televised live on Russian state television and echoed Russia’s rhetoric over Ukraine.
Speaking in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Yanukovych repeated the Russian claim that the new Ukrainian authorities are kowtowing to radical nationalists. He alleged that authorities could use military force against Russian-speaking eastern regions, pushing Ukraine toward a civil war.
Yanukovych said the May 25 presidential vote is illegal and said he would call on the U.S. Congress to halt Washington’s financial aid to what he called the “bandit regime” in Ukraine.
He added he would soon return to Ukraine.
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