The investigation believes that Viktor Yanukovych, the former president, instructed Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko to use firearms against Euromaidan participants at about 7 a.m. on February 20, 2014, while in Mezhyhirya.
Direct speech : “During the investigation, we found out that on February 20, 2014, Yanukovych, while at his Mezhyhirya residence, had government contact with Zakharchenko from 6:52 a.m. to 7 a.m.
The investigation has reason to believe that it was during this conversation, which lasted approximately 8 minutes, that Yanukovych gave instructions to Zakharchenko to use firearms by the units subordinate to him in the direction of protesters in the central part of Kyiv.”
Details: In turn, according to the investigation, after a conversation with Yanukovych, Zakharchenko had two telephone conversations with Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev through government communications.
Further, as is known, from 9:16 to 17:00, employees of the special unit "Berkut" of the internal troops used service firearms - Kalashnikov assault rifles, "Fort" pistols, "Dragunov" sniper rifles and "Fort-500" shotguns, equipped with combat cartridges, fired shots in the direction of unarmed participants of mass protests, who were at that time in the area of Independence Square and the lower part of Institutskaya Street.
The details of this tragedy were studied in detail in the Svyatoshinsky District Court of the capital, during the consideration of the case of five “Berkut” officers. They were accused of killing 48 protesters.
Ivanov emphasized that the executions of protesters on the morning of February 20, 2014 were broadcast live.
“The question is, why didn’t Yanukovych stop this? Why didn’t Zakharchenko order the withdrawal of the Kyiv “Berkut” unit from Institutskaya Street? Such actions indicate Yanukovych’s direct intent to have police officers commit these crimes,” the prosecutor believes.
He noted that Yanukovych, during the Revolution of Dignity, did not sign written orders to the security forces to use violence, since this was not provided for by the powers of the president. However, after changing the Constitution in 2010, Yanukovych personally appointed the Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko, the head of the SBU Alexander Yakimenko and the Minister of Defense Pavel Lebedev, and therefore the heads of the security forces were close to him and accountable to him.
As the investigation established, numerous operational meetings were held in the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street on February 18, including with the participation of the head of the SBU Yakimenko and the Minister of Internal Affairs Zakharchenko. Then the corresponding meetings were already held in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SBU, where the tasks set by Yanukovych were announced to subordinates.
“The circle of participants is quite wide; not everyone fled Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity and not everyone refused to testify against the former president. Therefore, we have enough evidence,” says Ivanov.
According to him, in the period from February 18 to February 20, when active security measures were carried out to oust protesters from the central part of Kyiv, there were numerous telephone connections between the government and telephone communications between the president and the heads of law enforcement agencies.
Investigators have recorded at least 10 connections between Yanukovych and Yakimenko and Zakharchenko. With each of them. There were 5 connections each with Defense Minister Lebedev and Internal Troops Commander Shulyak these days.
Direct speech : “The investigation did not establish what they were talking about. But with the help of numerous video recordings, which were then carried out in the central part of Kiev, the connection is monitored, as after the next call from Yanukovych to Zakharchenko, the police begin an active assault on a specific area and use excessive physical violence, special means, grenades, rubber batons, and shoot pump-action shotguns . And before all this starts, about five to ten minutes, a connection occurs. What are they talking about? Perhaps it’s about this operation.”
