KYIV. July 26 (Interfax) - Azov regiment veteran Nikita Makeyev, who attempted to approach former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko near the building of the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation after the latter left it following an interview, has issued a video in which he says that his actions were a demarche.
"I came to fight for Ukraine's independence in 2014. I bought four bulletproof vests today. My friends and I sent bullets through three of them at a firing range. It was a piece of cake. And I wanted to give one to Petro Oleksiyovych [Poroshenko] personally. It hadn't been shot through. I wanted him to put it on either himself or his son, who allegedly fought in Kramatorsk, and test it," Makeyev said in his video address, which he posted on his Facebook page on Thursday evening.
According to Makeyev, Poroshenko's security guards did not allow him to approach the former president, threatening him with arms, and he then decided to take more drastic action.
Makeyev said that he "wanted to take revenge" on Poroshenko for his unkept promise given five years ago to grant Ukrainian citizenship to foreign volunteers. "Instead, he sent them round the nine circles of bureaucratic hell," he said.
Makeyev also denied reports that what happened was allegedly an attempt on Poroshenko's life.
"I didn't risk my life in Donbas in order to stage such [an attack] in the center of the peaceful city of Kyiv," he said.
"It was my demarche," Makeyev said.
According to earlier reports, on July 25 four men tried to attack Poroshenko when he left the headquarters of the State Bureau of Investigation after questioning. The men attempted to approach Poroshenko's car, but his bodyguard fought one off with an umbrella. The assailant responded by spraying tear gas.
When the police arrived, the attackers fled the scene.
Poroshenko managed to get into the car unharmed.
The Kyiv police have opened a case on hooliganism charges and are working to identify all those involved in the incident.