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Deposed Ukrainian leader says he is ready to confront political rivals in court

Yanukovich has emphasized that the responsibility for everything that happened in February 2014 rests on the Maidan leaders

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 28. /TASS/. Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovich, has declared he would be prepared for a confrontation with the country’s former prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, the current president, Pyotr Poroshenko and parliamentary speaker Andrey Parubiy in court.

"Strictly speaking I would be prepared to confront the people I was holding negotiations with [during the events of 2014 - TASS]. Also, I would be ready to confront the people who were sitting in front of me at that time. Then we would be able to ask each other questions and look each other in the eye," Yanukovich said while answering lawyers’ questions in a video conference from Rostov-on-Don.

Former president says he's deeply sorry

Yanukovich has offered his apologies to the families of those killed during the Maidan rallies of February 2014 for his failure to prevent these deaths.

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"I would like to address my words of the families of those killed. I want to apologies to you so that you see that I did my best to prevent that tragedy and I am ready to look you in the eye today and answer all of your questions," Yanukovich said.

He said that the entire responsibility for what happened in February 2014 rests on the maidan leaders.

"Who benefited from that? It was beneficial for the maidan leaders who later seized power by force," Yanukovich said. "It was to no advantage for the Ukrainian president, i.e. for me and my team of that time. And we did our best to prevent it."

"Today, I, like nobody else, is your ally in what concerns the establishment of the truth," he stressed.

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