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Yanukovych remains Ukraine's legitimate president

Russian official says that if Ukrainian citizens and the Verkhovna Rada decide to remove Yanukovych from office, they should comply with certain legal procedures

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MOSCOW, February 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Speaker of the Federation Council, upper house of Russia’s parliament, Valentina Matviyenko said Viktor Yanukovych was Ukraine’s legitimate president because no procedures had been carried out to remove him from office.

“President Yanukovych is a legitimate president. If Ukrainian citizens and the Verkhovna Rada decide to remove him from office, they should comply with certain legal procedures,” the Federation Council Speaker said.

“Iimpeachment proceedings should be carried out. Then this issue should be submitted to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. When all proceedings are over, he will cease to be Ukraine’s legitimate president,” she said.

The fact that Ukraine will return to the 2004 Constitution “arouses indignation in the regions”. “In any democratic state, a new version of the Constitution is a document of nationwide accord. All political forces, civil institutions and regional authorities take part in working out the document,” Matviyenko said.

“Of course, such document should be at a referendum. A narrow group of people cannot approve such far-reaching decisions,” the Federation Council speaker said.

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