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Former Ukrainian president says he had no direct contacts with Manafort

According to Yanukovich, he did not sign any agreements with Manafort and "personally did not establish any payments for his work"

Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has said he had no direct contacts with former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, while the Party of Regions’ administration worked with him.

"We started working with Paul Manafort in the second half of 2005, and the parliamentary election campaign in the spring of 2006, then the 2007 elections and the 2010 presidential election were held with the participation of Manafort and his team who worked with the office of the Party of Regions," he told reporters at a TASS news conference. "I had no personal contacts [with him] as such. He [Manafort] worked mostly with the administration of the Party of Regions. I have not seen him and heard nothing about him since I left Ukraine."

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Kremlin denies any involvement in Manafort-Deripaska contacts

According to Yanukovich, he did not sign any agreements with Manafort and "personally did not establish any payments for his work."

"This issue had never been raised while I was in office," the former president said.

"After the 2010 election, Manafort was my consultant, that was why he took part in meetings on international issues, Yanukovich explained.

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Viktor Yanukovych

Military operation in Ukraine

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