ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — In a rare public appearance,
Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine, said Friday that he
regrets he did not impose martial law and order troops to disperse the mass
protests that toppled his government and forced him into exile in Russia.
“My main mistake was that I was not resolute enough to
sign an order,” Mr. Yanukovych told dozens of journalists at a news conference.
“But even today, I would not sign this order because Ukraine was divided then
and that would unleash a civil war.”
The protests began late in 2013 when Mr. Yanukovych’s
government announced that it was suspending its plans to sign a trade deal with
the European Union and that it would instead seek closer economic ties with
Russia.
The demonstrations, centered in Maidan Square in Kiev,
grew in size and intensity, attracting international attention. But it was the
shooting of scores of protesters in February 2014 as they tried to enter the
government district that drew widespread condemnation and led many of
Mr.Yanukovych’s political allies to abandon him. Security forces, after hearing
that they would be blamed for the shootings and that protesters had seized
hundreds of guns, left the capital.
Mr. Yanukovych fled Kiev, and Russia’s president,
Vladimir V. Putin, sent special forces to bring him to Russia. Moscow contended
that Mr. Yanukovych’s downfall had been the result of a Western-inspired coup
and threw its support to a revolt then taking shape Ukraine’s east.
More than 9,600 people have died in clashes there
between Ukraine’s government and rebel forces, according to the United Nations.
Earlier on Friday, Mr. Yanukovych visited a courthouse
in Rostov-on-Don, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, where he tried to
testify via a video link in the Ukrainian trial of five former special forces
police officers charged with shooting protesters.
After 20 minutes of proceedings, the trial was
adjourned because Ukrainian nationalists in Kiev had prevented the five
suspects from leaving a detention center. Mr. Yanukovych is now expected to
testify on Monday.
At the news conference, Mr. Yanukovych and his lawyer
accused the Ukrainian government of deliberately dragging out the trial in
order to prevent him from telling an alternative version of what had happened.
He said he had collected three volumes of evidence that proved his argument
that he had nothing to do with the shootings.
Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, called Mr.
Yanukovych’s actions “another provocation organized by a puppet of Moscow.”
Vitaly Tytych, a representative of the victims, said
in a comment on Facebook that Mr. Yanukovych should not be treated as a witness
by the court, but as a suspect and the main organizer of the massacre.
Mr. Yanukovych, who faces criminal charges in Ukraine,
has long contended that he could not receive a fair trial there and would fear
for his safety.
At the news conference, he said he had left Ukraine
only with his “hand luggage.” He has been living in Russia ever since,
appearing in public only a few times.
Mr. Yanukovych said he supports Ukraine’s territorial
integrity, but he blamed radicals in Kiev for the armed conflict in the east
and for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia’s role in these events has been exaggerated, he
said. “There is a big interest in blaming it all on Russia,” he said. “Ukraine
has become a hostage of this situation.”
Foto: Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine.Alexander Blotnitsky/European Pressphoto Agency
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