The Party of Regions Leader Viktor Yanukovych gave an interview to "Kyiv telegraph" newspaper. A broad range of questions was addressed during the interview: the internal political situation in the country and Ukraine's NATO ambitions, pre-term elections in Kyiv and relations among the branches of power, staff policy and economic challenges of Ukraine, etc.



Answering journalists' questions concerning the 100 days of the present government performance, Viktor Yanukovych outlined: "The main mistake of the Yulia Tymoshenko government is ineffective economy. They conceal their inability to work efficiently in this sphere with lies and populism. They divert the public attention from the problems which occur in the country and are generated by this government through creating artificial conflicts. The examples are abundant: rise in prices, problems with gas, oil, and oil products. Consequences of these artificial crises are increase of inflation and decline of people's living standard".

Characterizing a state of affairs in Kyiv entailed by the Verkhovna Rada decision about the pre-term elections, Viktor Yanukovych said: "It is necessary to answer the following question as well: do such actions comply with the current legislation and the Constitution? No, they do not. And personally I treat it as negative indeed. A very dangerous precedent for the country has been established. It is an evident example of how a duly elected city mayor in Ukraine can be dismissed illegally. Suffice it to adopt an appropriate decree by the simple majority of votes in the Verkhovna Rada. All heads of self-government local bodies, as well as people's deputies, have been elected by the Ukrainian people. Could Verkhovna Rada have a right to usurp the power, which under the Constitution, belongs the people?"