Editor's Note: The following is a live translation of overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych's press conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on March 11. Yanuovych spoke for seven minutes in Russian and did not answer questions.
See video and story from Yanukovych’s Feb. 28 press conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Defiant Yanukovych says he didn’t run anywhere, didn’t give any order to shoot people
“Dear compatriots:
“Because there are rumors spread in Ukraine about me, I would like to say that I am alive, but can’t say that I feel well because I can’t watch without deep anxiety what’s happening in Ukraine.
‘Gang of ultra-nationalists and fascists are running the country’
“Under the curtain of the so-called legitimate government the gang of ultra-nationalists and fascists are running the country. Now they are aiming at the presidential chair.
“The seized governmental buildings not only in Kyiv but in other cities. They fired police chiefs and the Security Service of Ukraine. People with masks now patrol many Ukrainian cities.
“They dismiss chief army officers and those who don’t want to oppose the use military troops against peaceful people in southeastern Ukraine.
“I would like to ask those who cover for these dark forces in the West: are you blind? Have you forgotten what fascism is? But I’m sure the officers and soldiers, unlike you, the European ministers, who signed the document that guarantee the safety not for me, but for a civil peace in Ukraine and trampled it, those soldiers understand you’re (the ministers) worth and they will not fulfill your criminal orders, unlike those gangs on Independence Square who gave orders to shoot their people.
“I remain not only the legal president, but the chief commander. I did not turn down my authority, and I am alive. They say in the U.S. and other European countries that I ran from the country.
“I repeat: I did not run. As armed people basically attempted a coup with arms, I was still on the territory of Ukraine – I was in Kharkiv first, then I go to Donetsk and then to Crimea.
‘I will return to Kyiv’
“As soon as circumstances allow, I am convinced it’s not long to wait. I will return to Kyiv.
“The (presidential) elections in May (25) are totally anti-constitutional and illegal, due to the Article 103 of Ukraine’s Constitution.
“The power organs formed as a result will not be legitimate, not to mention that they will be conducted under total control bandit forces.
“The U.S. is planning to give $1 billion to this government. But I remind that (U.S. law, according to Article No 8422) bans the government from giving money to a government that toppled the legal president.
US has ‘no rights to support the bandits’
“I will address the Senate and the Congress to give a legal assessment to this decision. You have no rights to support the bandits. In the near future I predict the deteriorating of the situation in the country.
“Usurpers will blame me and even Russia for economic crunch. But I’m not the one to blame. They (the new acting government) made cuts in social spending – that’s inhumane. Our government had a clear plan for Ukraine’s sustainability.
“But after the armed anti-constitutional takeover it’s become impossible. You will answer for the consequences. You will face for the shootings and suffering of the people. Ukraine is experiencing hard times. Your (the new government’s) actions have led to the factual Crimea split-off. Your actions led to the fact that even at gunpoint citizens of Southeast oblasts demand respect for themselves and their rights. We will survive this turmoil. People that were fooled by you will see the light. I believe the country will unite though. Ukraine has not yet died, nor her glory, nor her freedom. Thank you for the attention.”
