MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - Ukrainian presidential candidate, Oleh Tsaryov, said he saw the unwillingness of the authorities to have dialog about the topic of federalization as support for opening a criminal case against him.
"I left the Prosecutor General's Office several hours ago. I did not have the information that the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case but if this information exists, it just emphasizes that the Kyiv authorities do not want to hold any dialog," Tsaryov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 (Russia 24) TV channel late on April 15.
"I voice not my own point of view - I express what citizens of [Ukraine's] south-east want to hear. And the authorities call this separatism and open a criminal case - this is unwillingness to hear, unwillingness to have a discussion but desire to decide everything with force," he said.
It is premature to hold the presidential elections prior to amending the constitution, Tsaryov said. "The south-east demands the presidential elections be moved to a time when amendments to the constitution on the status of the Russian language and federal status of Ukraine are passed, and after streets are freed of armed militants," he said.
"Today some presidential candidates representing western Ukraine can not come to the east of the country and some representatives of the east can not come to west," Tsaryov said.
When asked whether protestors in east Ukraine should expect some armed operations, Tsaryov said: "When servicemen are not at their bases in peacetime, this does not lead to anything good."