© Reuters / StringerA general view of Ukraine's parliament during the vote to remove President Viktor Yanukovich from office hours after he abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup, in a session in Kiev February 22, 2014.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has called the latest developments in the country a coup d'etat, denying speculations of his resignation. He also accused international mediators of not fulfilling their obligations.
"I'm always threatened with ultimatums. I'm not going to leave the country," Yanukovich said in an interview with local UBR TV channel.
"I'm not going to resign. I'm a legitimately elected president."The interview with the embattled president was broadcast right after the opposition claimed it had received verbal assurances that Yanukovich was resigning.
But as parliament deputies said they were waiting for the written confirmation on his resignation, the president announced his plans to travel across the country's southeast, which is
"so far, less dangerous.""Everything that is happening today is, to a greater degree, vandalism and bandits and a coup d'etat," Yanukovich said in a televised statement.
On Saturday, Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) held a new emergency session, during which it passed a law on the return to the 2004 constitution without the president's signature, saying that the president had removed himself from power.
It also appointed a new head of the Ministry of Interior and a new head speaker of the Rada. In addition, parliament ruled to free former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison and set early presidential elections for May 25.
Comment: Who can take what these guys say seriously anymore? A sign of the Orwellian world we live in, where double-speak is everywhere.