Fugitive Ukraine leader vows to fight on from Russia
Rostov-on-Don (Russia) (AFP) - Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych insisted Friday he had not been overthrown as he defiantly surfaced in Russia from a week in hiding and savaged the new pro-Western powers in Kiev.
The deposed pro-Kremlin leader spoke as a new crisis erupted over what the pro-EU interim authorities branded as an "armed invasion" of Ukraine's volatile Crimean peninsula by Russian troops.
The untested new team -- made up in part of leaders of the protests that gripped Kiev for three months -- is grappling not only with separatism fears but also the risk of a devastating debt default.
But IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Friday there was no need to panic while US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had been assured by Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Moscow was still willing to help its neighbour despite Yanukovych's ouster.
Yanukovych dramatically ended six days of guesswork about his whereabouts by walking out on stage before about 200 reporters in Rostov-on-Don -- an industrial city less than two hours' drive from the border with Ukraine.
The 63-year-old -- sitting confidently in a pressed suit with a dark blue tie in front of three Ukrainian flags -- said he had been shot at with automatic fire in Kiev and left because of threats to his life.
He vowed to continue to fight for Ukraine's future while boycotting a snap presidential poll the new Western-backed leadership has set for May 25.
"I have not been overthrown by anyone, I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to an immediate threat to my life and the lives of those close to me," he said.
"I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who try to saddle it with fear and terror."
He called the new leadership "young neo-fascists" and blamed the "irresponsible policies" of the West for the crisis but said he planned to return.
Yanukovych also revealed he had spoken by phone with -- but had not met -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed surprise that his ally had not yet spoken out on Ukraine since his flight.
The Kremlin issued a brief statement after Yanukovych's comments saying Putin had stressed in phone talks with EU leaders "the extreme importance of not allowing a further escalation of violence" in Ukraine.
But US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki once again stressed that Washington believed "Yanukovych has lost legitimacy as he abdicated his responsibilities. He left Kiev."
The ex-Soviet country's bloodiest crisis since its 1991 independence erupted in November when Yanukovych rejected an historic deal that would have opened Ukraine's door to eventual EU membership in favour of tighter ties with old master Russia.
- 'Naked aggression' -
The spiralling tensions in a nation torn between the West and Russia took a new turn when Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov accused Russian soldiers and local pro-Kremlin militia of staging raids on Crimea's main airport and another base on the southwest of the peninsula where pro-Moscow sentiments run high.
A spokesman for Russia's Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet denied any involvement. But Ukraine's parliament immediately appealed to the US and Britain to uphold a 1994 pact with Russia that guaranteed the country's sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arms.
The UN Security Council also agreed to hold a "private meeting" at which the 15 member states would discuss the latest Ukrainian developments behind closed doors.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he viewed the incident as "an armed invasion and an occupation" while interim president Oleksandr Turchynov called on Putin to halt the "naked aggression against Ukraine".
AFP reporters said dozens of men in battle fatigues and armed with Kalashnikovs encircled Simferopol airport late on Friday.
Witnesses also reported seeing several armoured personnel carriers rumble across Simferopol's main streets and at least eight heavy cargo planes bearing the Russian tricolour flag landing at a Ukrainian military air base just north of the city on Friday evening.
The president's Crimea representative Sergiy Kunitsyn told local television that 13 Russian cargo planes carrying nearly 2,000 troops had landed at the base by Friday night.
It was not immediately clear if Russia had the right to use the base or send additional forces there under its agreements with Ukraine.
AFP reporters also saw soldiers with machine guns and dressed in green military fatigues blocking the main road leading to Ukraine's Belbek military air base near the city of Sevastopol -- home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's standoff by ordering snap combat drills near the border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.
- Swiss bank accounts -
Western governments have been watching with increasing alarm as Kiev's new rulers grapple with the dual threats of economic collapse and secession by Russian-speaking southern and eastern regions that had backed Yanukovych.
But the more immediate threat of a debt default that Kiev leaders warned could come as early as next week prompted International Monetary Fund chief Lagarde to express confidence in Ukraine and appeal for calm.
"We do not see anything that is critical, that is worthy of panic at the moment," she said.
Kerry said Lavrov had also told him on Friday "that they are prepared to be engaged and be involved in helping to deal with the economic transition that needs to take place."
Ukraine's plunging currency rebounded from record lows after Lagarde promised on Thursday to send a fact-finding mission to Kiev that could open the way for the quick release of about $2.5 billion in EU and US loans.
Switzerland meanwhile said it was freezing the assets of 20 Ukrainian figures -- including Yanukovych and his multi-millionaire son Oleksandr -- and also launching a money laundering probe.
Austria and Liechtenstein announced similar moves against Ukrainian figures whom the new authorities say stole billions of dollars in state funds.
