Foreign Ministry: Russia received request signed by Yanukovych on entry of troops into Ukraine

In 2014, Russia received a signed statement from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych requesting that Russian introduce its troops to settle the political situation in the country, said Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Friday.

She stressed that the statement was not issued in the form of a letter, but noted that Yanukovych himself “never denied that he had signed it.”

Zakharova also confirmed that on March 3, 2014, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin was authorized to show Yanukovych’s statement at a meeting of the Security Council.

On March 16, 2017, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not received letters from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych requesting that Russian troops enter Ukraine. However, in 2014, Putin himself said that the Ukrainian president had appealed to him with such a request.

The question of whether a document with a request to introduce troops existed is currently being discussed in connection with the fact that this letter forms the basis of Ukraine’s accusation that Yanukovych is guilty of treason. Case was transferred to a court in Kiev in March. Yanukovych states that no such letter existed and denies requesting Russian troops.