28/02/2014 18:23
Ukraine parliament is illegitimate – Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych said Friday in his first public address since being ousted as president of Ukraine that he will continue to fight for the future of his country and condemned the interim government in Kiev as violent usurpers, RIA Novosti reported.
Looking nervous while addressing reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Yanukovych rejected suggestions that he had been overthrown and insisted that he had been forced to leave the country because of threats made to him and his family.
“Power in Ukraine was seized by nationalists, neo-Fascist youths that represent an absolute minority of the people,” he said.
Yanukovych was making his first appearance in public since fleeing the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, over the weekend.
On Saturday, the erstwhile opposition took control over parliament and together with disaffected deputies from the ex-ruling Party of Regions voted to impeach Yanukovych.
The impeachment vote came one day after opposition parties signed an agreement with Yanukovych on a political settlement to form a unity government, call early elections and reform the constitution.
Yanukovych said, however, that he did not recognize the authority of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
“I believe the Verkhovna Rada is illegitimate, and I still believe that [Friday’s] agreement was not fulfilled,” he said. “If it had been fulfilled, or if it is fulfilled, it would to a considerable extent calm the situation and begin the process of settling the political crisis in Ukraine.”
“This is a way out of the impasse to which we have been brought by the radicals,” he said.