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Kremlin got no letter from Yanukovich requesting to send forces to Ukraine

Yanukovich also stressed more than once that he had not sent any letter to President Putin

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. The Kremlin did not receive any letter of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich with the request to deploy Russian forces to Ukraine, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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"No letter was officially submitted to the Russian presidential administration, no such letter was registered in the administration," Peskov said.

In an interview with Russian and Ukrainian journalists in February on occasion of the third anniversary of the coup d’etat in Ukraine, Yanukovich said he had not asked Russia to send forces to the country.

Yanukovich stressed that he had not sent any letter to President Putin. "First, this was a statement, not a letter. Second, there are the laws," the former president said. "I did not betray my people, I tried to protect my people and do this in the framework of my powers," he said.

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Ukraine crisis Viktor Yanukovych Dmitry Peskov

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