Talking to the on-line Dozhd (Rain) TV station today, Yanukovych said he cannot agree with Crimea’s separation from Ukraine and added that he would have done all he could to prevent the peninsula's annexation by Moscow if he had been still in power.
Yanukovych said he hopes to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the conditions under which Crimea could rejoin Ukraine.
He added that presidential elections in Ukraine scheduled for May 25 will be illegal, as the "politically unstable state brings a big number of problems both into interior political situation in Ukraine and beyond."
Yanukovych reiterated his previous stance, saying that a referendum on Ukraine's federalization should be held before the presidential poll.
Associated Press: #Yanukovych says #Crimea a part of #Ukraine http://t.co/g0Ez0imb4t pic.twitter.com/vr0s7yuf3W
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) April 2, 2014
OK Yanukovych can you get back in your box now please, this is unbelievably boring.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) April 2, 2014
yes, please, God RT @shaunwalker7: OK Yanukovych can you get back in your box now please, this is unbelievably boring.
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) April 2, 2014
Yanukovych now droning on about minute agriculture and heavy industry statistics. Positively soporific
— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 2, 2014
First copy on the @AP Yabukovych interview http://t.co/Vp2UnNoOt8
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) April 2, 2014
MT @HromadskeTV: #Ukraine government planning to auction Yanukovych's fleet of luxury cars in June. (Ukr) pic.twitter.com/P9B5VctyzE
— Chrystyna Lapychak (@chryslap) April 2, 2014
"I did not make any orders to shoot people. Riot police was unarmed," Yanukovych said. #Ukraine
— Ivan Nechepurenko (@INechepurenko) April 2, 2014"I did not make any orders to shoot people. Riot police was unarmed," Yanukovych said. #Ukraine
— Ivan Nechepurenko (@INechepurenko) April 2, 2014
#Yanukovych says all-Ukrainian referendum should be held first, and only after hold presidential elections.
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) April 2, 2014