Viktor Yanukovych 2014 Yanukovych called Russia's annexation of Crimea "a tragedy", the 2014 Crimean referendum "a form of protest" and he stated he hopes it will become part of Ukraine again. Yanukovych said he would try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine. He squarely blamed the Yatsenyuk Government and acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov for Ukraine's loss of Crimea. He also said he gave no orders to open fire on Euromaidan protesters. Yanukovych said: "We must set such a task and search for ways to return to Crimea on any conditions, so that Crimea may have the
Viktor Yanukovych is my rule of politics." In spite of his claim, on 22 September 2007, during 2007 Ukrainian Parliamentary Election campaign, while delivering a speech in Vinnytsia, he compared Yulia Tymoshenko's performance as Prime Minister to "a cow on the ice" (" Вона прем'єр-міністр, як корова на льду...", "She is as prime minister as a cow on the ice") most likely referring to her skills and professionalism as a prime minister. Other cases of strong colloquialisms used by Viktor Yanukovych include the incident when he called former president Viktor Yushchenko "a coward and a babbler", as well as the speech in