Ukraine’s Yanukovych to hold news conference in Russia Friday: reports

MOSCOW – Russian news agencies say Ukraine’s fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, will hold a news conference in southern Russia.

The reports say the news conference will be held Friday in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

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They earlier carried Yanukovych’s statement, in which he claimed he remains the legitimate leader of Ukraine and denounced the new Ukrainian authorities as illegitimate.

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The Russia-backed Yanukovych fled Ukraine after signing a peace deal with protesters following violence in which more than 80 people died, most of them protesters killed by government snipers.

Russian news reports say he is in Russia.

© The Canadian Press, 2014

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