Yanukovich says he remains legitimate president of Ukraine

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - President Viktor Yanukovich said he would remain Ukraine's legitimate president and supreme commander-in-chief. "I want to tell you I'll remain Ukraine's legitimate president and supreme commander-in-chief," Yanukovich told journalists on Tuesday. "I haven't terminated my powers. I'm not dismissed under the Constitution of Ukraine," he said. “The USA and other countries say I was not a legitimate president because I run away from the country,” Yanukovich said. “I repeat: I’ve not run away. When radicals seized government buildings and the presidential administration I was in Ukraine,” he said. Viktor Yanukovich said he would address the Supreme Court and the US Congress to ask them to give an assessment to the leaders’ actions towards Ukraine. “I mean the USA statement saying Ukraine will be provided one billion dollars,” Yanukovich told reporters on Tuesday. The US legislation “bans any financial support for a state what president was overthrown by force”, he said, adding “You have no right to provide such funding.” “No one has right to encourage violence and uphold a coup d’etat,” Yanukovich said. Viktor Yanukovich said that he was deeply alarmed by developments in Ukraine. “A gang of ultranationalists and neo-Nazis, who are already setting their bag for the office of president, is operating in the country” as an allegedly legitimate government, he said. They forcibly seize local government bodies, they are sacking the leadership of police and security services. Not only in the centre, in Kiev, but also in regions,” Yanukovich said, adding that “an outrage against Ukrainian nationals is getting increasingly wider”. “Think of it – they (the forces that came to power in Kiev) want to put the army under the banner of Bandera and unleash a civil war”. They want to bring gunmen from nationalist organizations into the army, to arm them,” Yanukovich noted. He also appealed to “patrons of these dark forces in the West, asking them “Have you gone blind or lost your memory, have you forgotten what fascism means?” Appearing before reporters in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia, Yanukovich dismissed media reports about his illness. “As different rumours are being spread about me in Ukraine, I would like to say I am alive. However, I cannot say I feel well, as I cannot watch the developments in Ukraine without a deepest and awful concern,” he said. The presidential elections scheduled for May 25 would be illegitimate? said Yanukovich. “The elections slated for May 25 are illegitimate and do not correspond to the Constitution of Ukraine,” Yanukovich said on Tuesday. “I believe that the elections will be held under total control of extremist forces,” he said. Photo ITAR-TASS: Press conference by President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych