All news

Ukrainian opposition used 2014 ‘maidan’ protesters as extras to seize power - ex-lawmaker

First, they needed to remove then-Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov "so that he could not serve as acting president," former lawmaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada David Zhvania

KIEV, July 24. /TASS/. Former lawmaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada David Zhvania said in his YouTube address that former President Pyotr Poroshenko and his entourage conducted a coup in 2014, using participants of the "Euromaidan" as a extras for seizure of power.

"I respect those people who were at the ‘maidan’ then. They fought for their beliefs - this is worth of respect. It is not their fault that we used them as extras to seize power, where ‘us’ are me, Pyotr Poroshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Alexander Turchinov, Vitaliy Klichko and other opposition leaders," Zhvania said.

According to the ex-lawmaker, the opposition initially sought to receive only a part of the authority, but later decided to remove then-President Viktor Yanukovich from office. But first, they needed to remove then-Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov "so that he could not serve as acting president," Zhvania explained.

"In January 2014, we already felt the weakness of the authorities and embarked on total ousting of the President. We were completely confident then that Yanukovich will flee. And we kept inflating his fear for his safety. We intimidated him," Zhvania noted.

Following Azarov’s resignation, the opposition stopped taking Yanukovich into account and engaging in any negotiations with him

"We wanted to get everything, to conduct a coup d’etat. And we did it," Zhvania said.

The former lawmaker and Poroshenko’s close associate addressed Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova, claiming that he is ready to testify against himself and other politicians, involved in the coup. Zhvania asked to guarantee his safety, saying that he is scared that Poroshenko may order his assassination.

In his initial video, uploaded to YouTube on July 22, Zhvania claimed that Poroshenko bribed a European Union official for his support at the 2014 presidential elections.

 

5 mln euro to bribe European officials

 

Zhvania claims that he himself, along with Pavel Klimkin - who was an ambassador to Germany in 2014, and later headed the Foreign Ministry - participated in handover of "5 million euro for one then-senior European official through the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, in bid to ensure EU’s support of Poroshenko as presidential candidate."

The former lawmaker also disclosed how exactly Poroshenko and his accomplices, whom he called a criminal group, came to power in 2014. According to Zhvania, all of them sought to seize power for personal enrichment.

"We funded the ‘maidan,’ we fueled the protest sentiments in the media, we thwarted the authorities’ peaceful initiatives, we conducted secret negotiations with the [Yanukovich’s] Party of Regions lawmakers, we engaged in negotiations with foreign embassies," Zhvania confessed.

He also accused Poroshenko of massive corruption during his tenure as a president.

"During his time in power, Poroshenko received approximately $4 billion by corruption," the ex-lawmaker said.

Zhvania was a Rada lawmaker from the 4th to the 7th convocation; he headed the Committee on state building and self-governance between 2012 and 2014. Between February and September of 2005, he was the Minister of Emergency Situation in the government of Yuliya Timoshenko.

Ealier, Zhvania also made an explosive statement that poisoning of the 2004 Presidential Candidate Viktor Yuschenko was fake.