Ukraine’s fugitive former president, Viktor Yanukovych who is wanted by Interpol and Ukrainian authorities on charges of large-scale embezzlement from Ukraine, has spoken to BBC Newsnight in Russia.
He spoke to BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse.
Excerpts from the interview will be broadcast tonight on Newsnight on BBC Two from 12:30 a.m. and will then be available on the BBC iPlayer.
Below are some key quotes from the interview:
On whether he bears some responsibility for the killings in Maidan in February 2014
Editor’s Note: More than 100 people, mostly unarmed, peaceful activists, were gunned down on Feb. 20 and Feb. 22, 2014, in Kyiv during anti-government protests. Nobody has been convicted yet for their deaths.
GG: But nevertheless, Maidan ended in bloodshed. As president and commander in chief of the nation, do you think you should take a share of responsibility for that?
VY: Of course. Of course. I don’t deny my responsibility.
GG: As president, did you give the order not to open fire?
VY: I did not give any orders, that was not my authority.
GG: But you were the president?
VY:… in the first place. In the second place, I said publicly I was against the use of force, let alone the use of firearms, I was against bloodshed.
On Crimea
Editor’s Note: As soon as Yanukovych fled power on Feb. 22, Russia started its takeover of the Crimean peninsula, a move that broke international norms and the country’s commitment to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Russian President Vladimir Putin would later publicly admit to giving the order to forcibly annex the peninsula. Russia held a fake referendum in March 2014 that gave Russia the pretext to annex Ukraine’s peninsula.
GG: Do you consider Crimea part of Ukraine or part of Russia?
VY: What I think today is, that what happened there was very bad. And we need, today, to find a way out of this situation.
GG: Return Crimea to Ukraine?
VY: …a way out of this situation. Listen to me. What has happened, has happened.
GG: So Crimea is part of Russia?
VY: Today what happened is already a fact. Now there is war. They talk about getting Crimea back. How? By war? We need another war?
GG: What happened, is it a tragedy or is it historical justice?
VY: Of course it’s a tragedy of the Ukrainian state. Look at what’s happened: the country is divided, people are poor.
On the petting zoo at his billion-dollar Mezhyhyra residence outside Kyiv
Editor’s Note: For years Yanukovych would only lay claim to 1.7 hectares of the 140-hectare sprawling estate. Firms attached to it, mostly construction companies, evaded paying taxes, and the former president even billed taxpayers for leasing a work-from-home office there. The property, authorities allege, was taken over by Yanukovych via fraudulent transactions that shortchanged the government on property swaps that were valued much less than what he eventually got. As president, Yanukovch insisted that “foreign investors” owned the property and he voiced ignorance of who his landlords were.
GG: At your residence you paid 1.7 million euros for wooden furniture.
VY: I repeat, I repeat, everything else on the territory does not belong to me personally, and never did belong to me.
GG: The zoo?
VY: What?
GG: The zoo, with the ostriches etc.
VY: What’s wrong with the fact that I supported those people?
GG: Did the ostriches belong to you?
VY: What’s wrong with supporting?
GG: What did you support?
VY: That I supported the ostriches, what’s wrong with that?
GG: You supported the ostriches
VY: Yes. They just lived there
GG: They just happened to be living there on the territory of your residence?
VY: Yes, what am I supposed to do, go around with my eyes closed?
GG: Excuse me but it’s a little hard to believe that the president of the country lives in a place where there just happen to be ostriches wandering about
.VY: No they weren’t just wandering around. It was a totally separate territory.
GG: No it was one territory, I went there myself.
VY: Ok it was one territory, but I have 1.7 hectares, attached to my home.
GG: You want to say that the president of the country lived on the territory of someone else’s private zoo?
VY: What do you mean… The territory of that zoo, you understand… You’re asking incorrect questions, I tell you
GG: No? why?
VY: Especially if you’ve been there. That zoo is to one side.
GG: But it’s all together
VY: If I ever went there I went there roughly twice a year, when I had time. I didn’t have much time. I worked. Even though I love animals. When I had time, I went there.
On Vladimir Putin and his escape from Ukraine
Editor’s Note: Video footage from Yanukovych’s estate showed that he planned his escape in advance with scenes of vans being loaded with furniture and other belongings days before the revolution culminated. He left Kyiv for Kharkiv but found no support from his allies. He then met with billionaire backer Rinat Akhmetov in Donetsk but wasn’t allowed to board a plane there. He then headed for Crimea where Russian agents helped him flee Ukraine as the EuroMaidan Revolution succeeded in forcing out a corrupt and criminal regime.
VY: The fact that Vladimir Putin took that decision, on the recommendation of his own special forces, that was his right and his business. He did not consult me. I am of course grateful to him for giving the order and… helped my security to get me out, and save my life. Once I was inside Russian territory I spoke to him on the phone and said thank you.
