Viktor Yushchenko: “The Pres. Putin I Used To Know” Is Gone

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Viktor Yushchenko, you know Putin well, because he did not support you when you were running for president of Ukraine. He supported your opponent. He came to Kyiv several times to campaign for your opponent. Did you ever expect him to go this far? He did not like the Orange Revolution. He did not like the result, which brought you to power. Did you ever expect him to go this far?

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): You know, in 2005, Putin was not on the list of my friends, but I understand that Ukraine’s geographical interest was in the west, and that was our strategy. Of course, some of it is in the east, some of it is in the north and some of it is in the south. So, Ukraine’s interests demanded that I maintain some contact with the Russian president. I organized it, and I would say that the, President Putin I used to know, he’s not there anymore. He’s gone. And when I look at this man, in Russia, who is the furor in the Russian Reich, who is occupying and is waging war number seven in the Eastern Europe, starting with Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Crimea, Transnistria, Donbas, all of that, Russia was all — behind all of that. All the wars in Eastern Europe in the last 30 years were organized by Putin. That is the world’s problem. So, this image of evil, that’s not just something Ukraine invented.