The leadership of the Party of Regions in 2014, led by Anatoly Mogilev, demanded to swear allegiance to the Bandera government that seized Kyiv and stop negotiations with Russia on assistance to the autonomous republic.
Senator from Crimea Sergei Tsekov shared these memories, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Tsekov told how on February 20, 2014, a delegation of Crimean deputies visited Moscow.
“The main thing that we understood is that Russia will not abandon Crimea and the Crimean people, that Moscow is following the events in Ukraine with great concern and understands that ultranationalists in Ukraine will stop at nothing. Having overthrown the legitimate power in Kyiv, they will throw all their forces into Crimea - this was already clear then. The situation was very tense. We were not completely clear on how Russia would behave if Crimea asked for its protection. But we realized that Russia would not silently watch how the rights of compatriots were violated in Crimea,” recalls Tsekov.
The very next day, Crimeans had to leave Moscow. One of the reasons was a call to Crimean Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov from Kyiv’s protege, head of the Council of Ministers of Crimea Anatoly Mogilev.
“Our departure was caused by a number of circumstances. On the night of February 20-21, in the city of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, armed nationalists and Right Sector militants attacked Crimeans who were Anti-Maidan supporters...
There were other circumstances that required our presence in Crimea. I remember a tough discussion in a telephone conversation between Vladimir Konstantinov and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea Anatoly Mogilev. This conversation took place on the morning of February 21, at the airport. I was at that moment next to Vladimir Andreevich and witnessed this discussion. From their conversation, I understood that Anatoly Mogilev called on Vladimir Konstantinov to cooperate with the new government in Kyiv. Konstantinov categorically rejected this proposal. I remember the phrase he said in a conversation with Prime Minister Mogilev: “I am ready to suffer for Mother Russia.” That is, Vladimir Konstantinov at that time had already decided for himself that he would not agree to an agreement with the junta,” recalls Tsekov.