Ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych reported to be in Russia
Russian media say deposed president is staying in Moscow region and still claims to be legitimate ruler of Ukraine
The Russian government
sanatorium where ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was
reportedly staying on Wednesday night. Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
.
Ukraine's ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, has surfaced in
Russia and is still claiming to be the legitimate ruler of his country,
according to Russian media reports quoting top government sources.
"Given that President Yanukovych appealed to Russian authorities with a request to guarantee his personal safety, that request has been granted on Russian territory," a government source told Interfax.
An appeal to Ukrainian citizens from Yanukovych said: "My allies and I were being threatened with revenge and so I was forced to ask the Russian authorities to guarantee my personal safety from the actions of extremists."
Yanukovych said he continues to believe he is the legitimate president of Ukraine and wants to achieve a compromise that would enable Ukraine to exit the crisis. The deposed president called the current session of Ukraine's parliament – which among other things is electing a new government – "illegitimate".
"There is an orgy of extremism on the streets of many cities," wrote the president. "I am certain that in these conditions all the decisions taken [by the parliament] will be ineffective and not carried out.
"In this situation, I officially declare that I am determined to fight to the end for the implementation of important compromise agreements that will bring Ukraine out of the deep political crisis."
And yet, after his flight from Kiev, the president has lost authority even among his closest allies – the mayor of a town in his eastern heartland has described him as "history", his close aides have fled and even the oligarch most tightly allied to him, Rinat Akhmetov, has said he is ready to work with the new authorities.
It is only in Crimea that the new government has no authority at all; it is possible Yanukovych may find support there. However, even in areas that are cynical about the makeup of the new government, there is little support for Yanukovych personally.
His exact whereabouts in Russia remain unclear. He left his opulent Kiev residence – now open to the public – in a hurry on Friday night, and last appeared in the role of president in a television interview on Saturday when he compared the new government in Kiev to the Nazis.
It is believed that he fled the port of Sevastopol by boat after being refused permission to leave the country from Donetsk, and arrived in Russia by sea.
On Wednesday evening, a reputable Russian news site, RBK, ran a report claiming that Yanukovych was staying at a top government sanatorium in the Moscow region – a retreat that has previously hosted top Soviet and post-Soviet officials including Leonid Brezhnev and Boris Yeltsin.
Quoting an unnamed prominent Russian businessman and saying his account was corroborated by a government official, RBK said that Yanukovych had travelled to the hotel complex after briefly stopping at the Ukraina hotel in the centre of Moscow. Other reports have suggested that Yanukovych allies and regime-friendly businessmen have been seen at the Ukraina in recent days.
The acting interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said he had not ordered a full-scale search to track down Yanukovych in Crimea because he felt that political stability in the region was more important than the fate of the ex-president.
The Ukrainian parliament has voted that Yanukovych should be sent to the international criminal court in The Hague, though legal experts have said the court would be unlikely to take on such a case.
"Given that President Yanukovych appealed to Russian authorities with a request to guarantee his personal safety, that request has been granted on Russian territory," a government source told Interfax.
An appeal to Ukrainian citizens from Yanukovych said: "My allies and I were being threatened with revenge and so I was forced to ask the Russian authorities to guarantee my personal safety from the actions of extremists."
Yanukovych said he continues to believe he is the legitimate president of Ukraine and wants to achieve a compromise that would enable Ukraine to exit the crisis. The deposed president called the current session of Ukraine's parliament – which among other things is electing a new government – "illegitimate".
"There is an orgy of extremism on the streets of many cities," wrote the president. "I am certain that in these conditions all the decisions taken [by the parliament] will be ineffective and not carried out.
"In this situation, I officially declare that I am determined to fight to the end for the implementation of important compromise agreements that will bring Ukraine out of the deep political crisis."
And yet, after his flight from Kiev, the president has lost authority even among his closest allies – the mayor of a town in his eastern heartland has described him as "history", his close aides have fled and even the oligarch most tightly allied to him, Rinat Akhmetov, has said he is ready to work with the new authorities.
It is only in Crimea that the new government has no authority at all; it is possible Yanukovych may find support there. However, even in areas that are cynical about the makeup of the new government, there is little support for Yanukovych personally.
His exact whereabouts in Russia remain unclear. He left his opulent Kiev residence – now open to the public – in a hurry on Friday night, and last appeared in the role of president in a television interview on Saturday when he compared the new government in Kiev to the Nazis.
It is believed that he fled the port of Sevastopol by boat after being refused permission to leave the country from Donetsk, and arrived in Russia by sea.
On Wednesday evening, a reputable Russian news site, RBK, ran a report claiming that Yanukovych was staying at a top government sanatorium in the Moscow region – a retreat that has previously hosted top Soviet and post-Soviet officials including Leonid Brezhnev and Boris Yeltsin.
Quoting an unnamed prominent Russian businessman and saying his account was corroborated by a government official, RBK said that Yanukovych had travelled to the hotel complex after briefly stopping at the Ukraina hotel in the centre of Moscow. Other reports have suggested that Yanukovych allies and regime-friendly businessmen have been seen at the Ukraina in recent days.
The acting interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said he had not ordered a full-scale search to track down Yanukovych in Crimea because he felt that political stability in the region was more important than the fate of the ex-president.
The Ukrainian parliament has voted that Yanukovych should be sent to the international criminal court in The Hague, though legal experts have said the court would be unlikely to take on such a case.
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