Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said he believes that former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych “betrayed his people” and notes that the purpose of his trip to Crimea in February 2014 as interior minister was not to detain Yanukovych, but to meet with him and clarify his future plans.
“We wanted to know in what condition he was, what plans he had, and how he was going to fulfill his functions. This was the key task of my trip. I flied there not to catch Yanukovych… I wanted to talk to him, and I hoped that Yanukovych would return to fulfilling his duties,” he said while testifying in the Yanukovych treason case in the Obolonsky District Court of Kyiv on Dec. 11.
Avakov said that Yanukovych knew about his visit and “avoided a meeting with him in every possible way.”
“Moreover, he disappeared in the territory of a Russian military unit, where he lined up his security guards, and said that he was going to Russia,” he said.
According to the minister, some employees of the State Guard Department refused to go together with Yanukovych, and some of them agreed. Avakov said that one of those guards who remained in Ukraine received a note from Yanukovych, which says that he voluntarily refuses state protection. This security guard was also given a weapon. Subsequently, this person handed over this weapon to the head of the Crimean branch of the State Guard Department and the note from Yanukovych to Avakov personally, which, he said, he transferred to the investigation bodies.
“Thus, Yanukovych confirmed that there was no direct threat to him,” Avakov said.
He also drew attention to the fact that even at that time Crimea saw processes that led to the annexation of the peninsula.
“Knowing this situation, Yanukovych, nevertheless, made a decision to leave the territory of the country by means of Russian troops, afterwards having written a letter with an appeal to the Russian Federation to move troops [into Ukraine], thereby having betrayed his people, and this fact needs to be assessed, including in a court ruling,” Avakov said.
