Viktor Yanukovych is clearly unhappy with threats by European leaders to boycott the finals of Euro 2012 and he makes his feelings known in an interview with TIME.
Shortly before the start of Euro 2012, which is jointly hosted by Ukraine
and Poland, TIME’s Simon Shuster sat down to interview Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv about the controversies surrounding
his ongoing feud with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now
sitting in prison on abuse-of-office charges. Many heads of European
government have said they will boycott the finals of the European soccer championship rather than be seen sitting with Yanukovych.
“Of course I am disappointed by the premature conclusions of some
European politicians who do not understand the depth of these issues [about Tymoshenko and other jailed opposition leaders] and
rush to make political pronouncements. This practice pushes me away
from Europe. It pushes me away,” Yanukovych says.
