Viktor Yanukovych Quotes

<small>(During the opening of the Ukrainian Olympic house for Ukrainian athletes in London)</small>It is wonderful that this event, it happens just before the thirteenth Olympic Games in London. <small>The 2012 Olympic Games were 30th; the 13th Summer Olympics, also scheduled in London, never happened due to World War II.</small>

<small>(Announcing Israel's decision to introduce visa-free travel for Ukrainians)</small> This is the first swallow from Europe. The first country to have decided to abolish visas with Ukraine.

<small>In response to the opposition's calls to fire some of his ministers</small> I've recalled, you know, the film called The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed. Have you heard, how was he...? How was he called? Vysotsky!.. (prompted) Zheglov! Yeah. As he said: "You'll only get a bagel of a bublik, not Sharapov..." Or how did it go? "Hole of a bublik"! That's right. We understand these are only dirty political games.

28 February 2014 Viktor Yanukovych urges Russia to act over Ukrainian bandit coup in The Guardian

I am forced to speak about it (the Customs Union) every day, all the day long, at least once a week...

By 1914, the tax will be lowered to 16%, just like we have already agreed.

If to cast aside spread by our opponents' nonsense, I’ll use chess-players phrase: we have sacrificed quantity to quality and showed such respect to our partners and readiness to properly account for their interests which others neither could or wished to reveal. (Speech by Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych at the International conference "Ukraine and European Union: new approaches") (28 February 2007)

<small>(In Balaklia, Kharkiv Region)</small> I hope that you, representatives of rural district, who have come here to Balaklava...

I was in the opposition twice. I was in power twice before this, and this is my third time. Before this I was Prime Minister twice, and now I am President. The political process is constant, and our goal is for it to move forward under civilized rules, under the laws and for there to be no chance for politicians to abuse their power.
..
But in our situation, we do not have the goal of locking up our political opponents. I can prove this, with facts. Let the opposition say the opposite. But watch the television, and you will see that the ruling government does not appear there at all. The opposition takes up 99% [of airtime]. They behave in a radical way, and nobody locks them up.
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I’m sure that the number of friends we have is only growing. We are open. We are not fooling anyone. We are pursuing a stable policy … We passed the tax code, the pension reform, the budget code, the customs code, now the criminal code. No one could do that in 20 years. People close their eyes and pretend not to see these things. Well, so be it. We’ll do it just for ourselves … If Europe has decided to take a pause, then so be it. It’ll probably work out for the best both for us and for Europe. If Europe does not see us as part of Europe, we will build Europe here in Ukraine.

On [the Ukrainian] western borders, the situation is also not so unequivocal. Poland not only remembers September 1939, it also scrupulously conserves the memories of [the Paris conference of] March 1923, when the countries of the Entente have definitively included the territories of East Galicia and the western part of Volhynia in the Second Polish Republic. The current situational rapprochement with Poland risks a situation when Ukraine will be forced to effectively merge with it, as the latter's possibility to safeguard economic sustainability might be in jeopardy. This was exactly the consequence of the realisation of the European dream, for which the Ukrainian nation supposedly went out on its last Maidan.

<small>(Speaking of an upcoming soccer match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea)</small> This will be a match between Ukraine and Russia. I hope that Shakhtar wins and that the mood will help to fight.

You need to understand who benefited from the Euromaidan events, I had no advantage of that.
It was a planned provocation in order to radicalize peaceful demonstrations. I had no evidence that it was organized by then chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin. But these suspicions have good grounds.
Do you remember those two young men who were supposedly killed on Hrushevskoho Street? According to preliminary investigations, we had evidence that they had been killed in a different place. Their lives have been sacrificed to the coup technologies.
As of February 20, some 20 police officers were killed and at least 130 were hospitalized with gunshot wounds – but there were almost no mentions in media about it. And they were standing there under fire and Molotov cocktails not for Yanukovych, but rather for Ukraine and the rule of law.
During the tragic events of EuroMaidan Revolution, as a legitimate president I had all the grounds to use the force, I didn’t do that.
It is important that each side could influence the process. And the dialogue should lead to the elimination of economic problems and the resumption of economic relations in Ukraine,” Yanukovych was quoted as saying. It is especially important for Donbas people, who suffer from hunger, as well as for the entire country, which is on a brink of economic collapse.

And now, I wanted to tell everyone: "Welcome in Ukraine, welcome in Kyiv!"

And another lie from the opposition - there is no revolution underway. And in the current conditions, it is not possible. During a revolution, a majority of citizens wants a change to the government structure. In fact, the majority of the Ukrainian people wants stability and improvement of their quality of life. It is not a revolution, it is political technology [abetted] by the uniformed special services, which is essentially being openly admitted by the organisers of the street protests.

You know, Odessa is a genuine paradise for talents. Dozens of famous, popular and simply wondeful people were able to develop their talents in the city by the blue-blue sea. I would want to say a few words about them right now - for example, Anna Akhmetova, a poet... <small>Yanukovych meant Anna Akhmatova; Rinat Akhmetov is an oligarch who was then a member of Yanukovych's party</small>