MOSCOW, February 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will give a news conference in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia, at 17:00 (GMT+4) on Friday, February 28, a source in the Ukrainian president’s entourage said. The venue will be announced later.
Earlier on Thursday, Yanukovych released an address to the people of Ukraine in which he confirmed that he still considered himself to be a legitimate president. He emphasized that a crisis settlement agreement which he had signed with Ukraine’s opposition leaders in the presence of Western partners on February 21, 2014 had not been implemented.
Yanukovych urged the Russian authorities to ensure his personal security and protect him from extremist actions.
“Unfortunately, everything that is going on in Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is illegitimate,” Yanukovich said in his address.
‘‘The parliament is passing decisions in the absence of many members of the Party of Regions and deputies of other parliamentary factions who fear for their security. Some have become victims of violent attacks and have been forced to leave Ukraine,” Yanukovych said, adding that those decisions were illegitimate.
Yanukovych said he was determined to fight to the very end to seek implementation of vital compromise agreements in a bid to take Ukraine out of its deep political crisis.
As it became known later, Russia has pledged to ensure Yanukovich’s security in Russian territory.