MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Viktor Yanukovych has denied giving orders to fire at pro-European protesters in Kyiv and claimed that "the shooting came from buildings that were controlled by the opposition at that time."
Moreover, Yanukovych told The Associated Press and Russia's NTV television station, he began to fulfill his commitments under an agreement reached during talks with protesters.
"I immediately gave instructions to the law enforcement services, the police to draw back from the Maidan [Independence Square, the focal point of protests], and to begin sending the special forces to their bases" he said.
"The radical part of the Maidan responded to our actions with fire. As for me, I never gave any instructions to open fire, and, as far as I was aware, no weapons had ever been given to the special forces that were taking part in the defense of state institutions and buildings and were performing duties set to them by law," Yanukovych said.
"It is my principle that no power is worth shedding a drop of blood. I have always espoused it," he said.