You're reading: Lawmaker Tsaryov says he remains Ukrainian presidential candidate

Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleh Tsariov has described the country's presidential elections, set for May 25, as ill-timed, but has said that he is not going to pull out of the race.

“I am not withdrawing my candidacy,” he told the Rossiya 24
television station over the phone, when commenting on certain Ukrainian
media reports.

Tsariov also claims that he has been encountering resistance during his presidential campaign.

“They are attempting to stage provocations. They are trying to put up
resistance against me and trying to block the media,” the
parliamentarian said.

When speaking about a recent skirmish with radicals in the city of
Mykolaiv, Tsariov said that by his arrival the hospital administration
had discharged almost all persons involved in the incident, except for
those who were in serious condition.

The parliamentarian said he had met with some of the persons injured
in the clash. Approximately 60 people were injured, and some of them
sustained gunshot wounds, he added.

“I am not going to stop at this. I am not that easily scared. They
will not be able to stop me because I am a presidential candidate and a
parliamentarian. And people have been deprived of everything,” Tsariov
said.

Tsariov also criticized the decision to hold presidential elections amid the current situation in Ukraine.

First, it is necessary to amend the Ukrainian constitution and
reaffirm the country’s neutral status, the existence of two state
languages – Ukrainian and Russian, as well as broader powers for the
local authorities in it, he said.

Tsariov said he was taking advantage of his election campaign in order to further pursue his demands.

In addition to that, the parliamentarian criticized the Kyiv
authorities’ actions in relation to residents of the country’s
southeastern regions.

“Regrettably, the authorities are following the same scenario that
was used in the dialogue with citizens of Crimea – threats, blackmail,
ultimatums, arrests, intimidation, militants and riot police. This is
not right. The authorities ought to engage in dialogue with their
people,” he said.

Ordinary people, not politicians, have taken to the streets of Odesa, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, Tsariov said.

“It is impossible to defeat or intimidate one’s own people. People can be dispersed, but they will gather again,” Tsariov said.

“All of the people who were detained for taking to the streets and expressing their point of view” should be amnestied, he said.