"My main mistake [was] that I couldn`t force myself to sign an order to bring in troops and introduce martial law ... [Although] it was the only way to stop the radicals, I didn`t go toward bloodshed," Ukraine`s fugitive ex-leader told journalists at a press-conference in Russia`s Rostov-on-Don on Friday.
He also denied Kiev`s accusations that he ordered for protesters to be fired at. Dialogue with the people is the only way for any government to treat the nation, the ex-president said, blaming Kiev for failing to apply such a policy towards the government-opposing regions in eastern Ukraine.
"This government came to power through blood and lies, and that is why it has no perspective," Yanukovich said.
Former president Yanukovich says he prevented civil war during Maidan events
26 November 2016
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The former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, said that a decree to introduce martial law in the country was ready during the Maidan coup of February 2014, but he didn`t sign it fearing a civil war.
