You're reading: Prosecution says Yanukovych phoned Medvedchuk during Maidan protests, he denies this

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had 54 telephone contacts with Ukrainian Choice public movement leader Viktor Medvedchuk from December 2013 to February 2014, the Ukrainian prosecution said.

“We have established at least 54 telephone contacts between you and Medvedchuk in the period from December 2013 until February 2014,” the prosecutor said during the questioning of Yanukovych via a video link between Sviatoshynsky District Court in Kyiv and Rostov Regional Court in Russia on Nov. 28.

“On February 20, 2014, between 8:56 and 8:58, that is before the time when the mass killings of protesters by police started – three outgoing calls from your personal mobile phone to a Russian subscriber were made… then at 8:59 you made a call from your mobile phone on Medvedchuk’s phone… the call lasted for 144 seconds,” the prosecutor said.

According to the prosecutor, then at 9:11 another call was made from Yanukovych’s different phone number on Medvedchuk’s phone.

Yanukovych said, “I had no personal phones. Any phones for communication were always held by my assistants. If there these conversations [with Viktor Medvedchuk] did took place, it is likely that these were my assistants… I do not remember [any such calls].”

In addition, responding to a question of the prosecutor, the ex-president said he has never met with Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov and did not communicate with him by phone.