(Vatican Radio) Ukraine's embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych, has warned the West
not to intervene in his nation after striking a controversial economic deal with Moscow,
despite massive anti-government rallies from pro-Europe Union protesters.
Speaking
in his first televised interview since signing the agreement, Yanukovych told hand-picked
journalists that the cooperation with Russia was in the best interest for economically
troubled Ukraine.
Under the agreement, Moscow pledged to buy $15 billion
worth of Ukrainian state bonds and to reduce Russian natural gas for Ukrainian customers
by one-third.
Yanukovich signed the agreement despite massive protests from
pro-EU demonstrators who want him and the government to leave office, after refusing
to sign the EU Association Agreement.
Senior Western diplomats, ranging
from EU foreign ministers and parliamentarians to US officials, have in recent weeks
attended and expressed support for the sprawling demonstrations on Kyiv's Independence
Square.
SANDWICHES FOR PROTESTERS Assistant US Secretary of
State Victoria Nuland was even seen giving out sandwiches to protesters, while US
Senator John McCain told a massive crowd "the free world" was with them.
However
Yanukovich condemned foreign nations for what he called meddling in Ukraine's internal
affairs.
“It’s very important other countries don’t interfere in our internal
questions, and that they don’t consider themselves the masters here, anywhere, on
this square or anywhere else,” he stressed.
Yanukovych said, however, he
may not run for re-election in 2015 if he felt he might lose.
Protesters say
they see no reason to wait 18 months and to live what they call a political horror.
'PRESIDENT
NOT LISTENING' “I can’t say exactly if the president hears us or not," shouted
a protester about the president's latest television interview. "I have the impression
that even if he hears us he hardly understands us. At least his behaviour proves he
has been living in his own world of illusions. That’s my impression.”
He and
others fear Russia will use its economic clout to re-establish influence over Ukraine.
Russia's
President Vladimir Putin has denied wrongdoing saying the bailout was "driven by a
desire to help a neighbor" that was in dire straits and was not aimed at "breaking
off Ukraine's ties" with the EU.