Yanukovych admits he asked Putin to send troops to Ukraine

Fugitive ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine to Russia in February 2014, has confirmed he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops to Ukraine, saying his request was under the influence of emotions, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

"This document [a letter addressing Putin] indeed existed. There was an emotional decision to somehow influence the offensive of illegal armed formations, [to stop] violence in Donbas," Yanukovych said at a press conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Friday, answering a question from an UNIAN correspondent who asked whether Yanukovych had called on Russia to send troops to Ukraine, as Russia's Permanent Representative under the UN Vitaliy Churkin claimed.

However, Yanukovych said his request "was not realized." According to Yanukovych, he appealed to Putin because he wanted to "protect the people this or other way." Churkin announced at an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council on March 4, 2014, that Putin received a letter from Yanukovych, who asked to use the Russian armed forces "to protect the population of Ukraine" to "restore the rule of law, peace, order, stability and the protection of the population of Ukraine." The letter is dated March 1, 2014. 

On March 1, 2014, the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation unanimously decided to authorize Putin to use the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Later, this decision was undone officially, but this did not stop Russian aggression in Ukraine, as Crimea and Donbas remain occupied by Russia.

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