MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described Viktor Yanukovych as the legitimate president of Ukraine, who is currently under protection of the Russian government.
"Yanukovych is the legitimate president of Ukraine, who is on the Russian Federation territory, because men from Ukraine can freely enter here," Peskov said in a Russian TV program.
Yanukovych has to be staying on Russian territory as his life in Ukraine would currently be in danger.
"He is under the Russian state's protection, of which the president has said already," he said.