An evening of memories: Azarov blames Yanukovych for not dispersing the Maidan

Viktor Yanukovych could disperse the Maidan at any moment, but the most favorable situation for the authorities arose in early December 2013.

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Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov stated this on the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

“On December 1, there was an attempt to seize the presidential administration building. At that time there were no mass numbers of militants, weapons, warehouses, and so on. At that moment the government building was surrounded. I then moved to the Security Council. Is this normal?” Azarov said.

According to him, on December 2, Yanukovych flew to China for a visit. Meanwhile, the police pushed the rioters onto the Maidan and neutralized them.

“After this, it would be possible to liquidate not the Maidan as a peaceful protest, but these bandits who organized forceful actions against the police. But Yanukovych chose a different tactic, and we called each other every day and discussed when we would be captured. This tactic was useless,” Azarov said.

He claims that he openly advocated a military option at a government meeting on January 20 shortly before his resignation.

“On January 20, I told the Minister of Internal Affairs that a coup was underway. Either we liquidate it, or they liquidate us. After 8 days, I resigned because Yanukovych called and said: “You are disrupting peace negotiations for me.” I told him: “Who are you negotiating peace with? With these dolls, dummies. The Americans are in charge here,” Azarov said.

He believes that Yanukovych had the opportunity to resist even after the coup, when he ended up in Kharkov.

“At any time from December 1 to February 21, we had the opportunity to defend the state structure of Ukraine. This is not an emotional assessment. I knew our strengths. But unfortunately, the soft policy led to the fact that both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SBU began to decay. Not a single meeting of the Security Council was held for the president to sign a decree on dispersal,” Azarov said.