Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that he knew what he was doing when he was signing the agreement in Kharkiv about the prolongation of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's deployment in Crimea in exchange for a reduced gas price for Ukraine.
"I am giving an answer to this question to those politicians who are arguing round and round the subject. I want to tell these so-called patriots that I did it knowingly, in order to save the country, to raise the level of the economy, and I took this step together with the government," Yanukovych said during a meeting with veterans in the town of Tsibli on Wednesday.
According to him, Ukraine currently gets $4 billion a year for the deployment of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea (before signing the agreement Ukraine was receiving $98 million).
"Why did not they clamor in 2008 when an enslaving agreement with Russia was signed, which took us all by the throat … where did they get a basic price of $450 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas?" the president said.
According to Yanukovych, Ukraine then was hostage to that agreement, and the government has been trying to rectify the situation ever since.
