MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Ukrainian politicians, journalists and public figures that sought dialogue with Russia started to be subjected to terror following the coup in 2014.
According to the president, "any political figure, journalist, nongovernmental group member that raised their voice in favor of developing ties with Russia were simply killed in the streets and no investigation followed."
"It became clear that no chances, simply no chances will be given to us to restore relations with that part of our former common country. It simply won’t be possible. Essentially, the practice of terror was applied, shamelessly and brazenly," Putin said.
The Russian president said that in February 2014, the foreign ministers of Poland, France and Germany acted as guarantors of agreements between the then ruling government and the opposition, but a few days later the coup happened anyway, "everyone forgot about those guarantees, as if they never existed."
"And what had to be done? Just to say: Dear friends, we are guarantors, we are the largest European countries. We ask you to return to the negotiating table, go to the polls and resolve the issue of power through political procedures. That's it," Putin continued.
According to the president, at that time, everyone was well aware that the elections would be lost by the incumbent government, despite the fact that Viktor Yanukovich, who then held the post of president of the country, "agreed to almost all the demands of the opposition, including early elections."
"And when I ask our so-called colleagues, 'Why did you take the matter as far as a coup?' there is no answer. They just throw up their hands, ‘That's just what happened." Good grief! 'That's just what happened,'" the president said.