Hasty presidential elections in Ukraine could destabilize situation - Yanukovich

MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) - If presidential elections are held hastily in Ukraine, this could further destabilize the situation in the country, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said in an interview with the Russian television channel NTV and the US news agency The Associated Press in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. “Referendum is a way toward a constitutional reform. After the constitutional reform, either parliamentary or presidential elections should be held. Haste in making the decision to hold presidential elections is a way toward further destabilization of the situation in the country,” Yanukovich said. “In such conditions, any destabilization carries huge threats of a split in society, even a possible split of the state,” he said. “We need to see how and in which conditions the current rulers came to power. If we look at this from the viewpoint of legality, then of course there is and was no legality or constitutionality here,” Yanukovich said. “So the legitimacy of these elections remains questionable. I think this will not do good to the state, people or Ukraine’s partners both in the West and in the East,” the Ukrainian president said. Ukraine is in political turmoil. Violent anti-government protests, which started in November 2013 when the country suspended the signing of an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia, resulted in a coup in February 2014. President Viktor Yanukovich had to leave Ukraine citing security concerns in February. New people were then brought to power amid riots in Ukraine. The Ukrainian parliament appointed its speaker, Alexander Turchinov, as acting president of the country and approved a new government led by Arseny Yatsenyuk, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Batkivshchina party. The Verkhovna Rada also set early presidential elections for May 25. The Ukrainian crisis deepened when the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, signed agreements to reunify with Russia on March 18 after a referendum two days earlier in which an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Crimea’s authorities do not recognize the new self-proclaimed Ukrainian leadership in Kiev. Nor do Russia’s authorities. Learn more on itar-tass.com