Viktor Yanukovych the armed forces of Ukraine not to intervene in the crisis. The exact whereabouts of Yanukovych when he made this statement remains unclear. He later thanked Vladimir Putin for "saving his life". According to an April 2014 poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre, only 4.9% of respondents would have liked to see Yanukovych return to the presidency. On 3 October 2014, several news agencies reported that according to a Facebook post made by the aide to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Anton Gerashchenko, Viktor Yanukovych had been granted Russian citizenship by a "secret decree" of Vladimir Putin. On the same day,
2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots Automaidan activists by 3 a.m. blocked all roads exiting Yanukovych's Mezhyhyria mansion. In the early morning, protesters in central Kiev continued supplying molotov cocktails and advanced on police cordons while fortifying barricades to their rear as police continuously used water cannons, fired rubber bullets, and jammed cell phone signals. By the evening, Vitali Klitschko had arranged a night-time meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych at his presidential mansion "Mezhyhirya" in an attempt to argue for snap elections in order to defuse the situation from escalating into further violence. The meeting ended with Yanukovych promising to resolve the crisis with a 'special