Former Ukrainian lawmaker says Kiev pushed away Crimea and Donbass

Verkovna Rada former deputy Vladimir Oleinik, who was nominated for president by Ukraine Salvation Committee, has said Monday that current authorities are to blame for losing Crimea.

“Unfortunately, we lost Crimea because of criminal authorities that ignited ethnic strife and pushed away Crimea and Ukraine’s south-east by staging a coup,” Oleinik told a press conference in Moscow.

‘When Crimea saw that there is war at the doorstep, it left Ukraine. You don’t remember how Poroshenko came before the referendum, how Crimeans pushed him out from the peninsula,” Oleinik said promising that he will make everything possible so that “Crimeans feel comfortable in Ukraine, and Ukrainians – in Crimea.”

He also called on Kiev to “remove restrictions on water and electricity.”