Ankara - Viktor Yanukovych remains the legitimate president of Ukraine and Russia must provide him with military aid to restore order in his country, should he so request, said Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party.
“No matter what he did, he is still the legitimate president of Ukraine. There was no impeachment procedure, he is not dead or ill, he has not vanished. We are only glad that the Russian government helps him by having provided him with security guards,” Zhirinovsky told reporters during a Russian parliamentary delegation’s visit to Turkey on Thursday.
I would be glad if Yanukovych asks the Russian government to help him as the incumbent Ukrainian president “to restore order and force the individuals who performed the coup d’etat to bring everything back to the way it was when he remained the president,” Zhirinovsky said.
“In the event of refusal by these individuals (to do so) he has the right to ask for military aid, and we, the Russian Liberal Democratic faction, will urge the Russian government in every possible way to agree to provide him with military aid,” the Liberal Democratic leader said.
Yanukovych does not need political asylum in Russia because he is the incumbent president and Russia’s guest, he said.
“He must have the appropriate status, and presidential protocol must be observed,” Zhirinovsky said.
“If the Crimean people vote to secede, then it means it is their right,” he said, commenting on the possibility of a Crimean referendum.
