Ex-President Yanukovych opposes Ukraine’s NATO entry

Riffat Kausar
Scandinavian News Agency Finland

Kremlin-affiliated media outlets have circulated a statement by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

In his video message, Yanukovych said he had “steered and advanced” Ukraine’s path toward EU membership, but stressed he was “firmly and consistently opposed” to the idea of joining NATO.

He warned that NATO membership would be “a disaster for Ukraine, a dead end, and a direct path to civil war.”It’s a path to nowhere—a direct road to civil war,” he asserted.

Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014 after the Maidan protests. Ukrainian courts later sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison for treason, followed by an additional 15-year sentence for illegal border crossing.

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