Putin personally ordered the Crime annex

Former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomyriov has testified at a court in Kiev, Ukraine, on the grounds that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself ordered the annexation of Ukraine's Crime in 2014.

Speaking in the judicial process against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanuovich, Mr. Ponomyrov said today that “certainly know” that Putin has demanded the capture of the Crime in Ukraine.

Then, Victor Yanukovich, an ally of Russia, flew from Ukraine to Russia because of the massive pro-European protests known as Euromaidan or Maidan.

According to Ponomyriov, many Russian officials opposed the prosecution of Crime in March 2014, but Putin had convinced them to support that idea.

“Putin watched the events in Maidan and realized that the person he supported was losing. Consequently, he had to take care of the evacuation and the salvation of his life. Putin has seen this situation as treason by the international community, as interference in his personal interests”, Ponomyrov said.

(FILES) A picture file takes on October 23, 2012, shows Ilija Ponomararev, a labmaker of the Just Russia Party, sharing at a conference point in Moscow. Rusian Investigative Committee accessed Today Alexei Beltykov, senior visual-president of the Scolkovo Fund, of “igally:x2> giving away $750,000 of the bottoms money to option Banjamaker Ilya Ponomysov bete Febuary 2011 and Febyuar 2012. A FP PHOTO / ANDREY SMIRNOV

Ponomyriov, who was the only member of the Russian State Dum you had voted against the Crimea annex, lives in the capital city of Kiev in Ukraine since 2015.

Prosecutors in Ukraine seek life imprisonment for Yanukovovichin, who is charged with treason, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and for supporting Russian aggression.

The process against Yanuovich is held in his absence. After his departure from Ukraine, Russia took over the Crime and spurred the central government's opposition from the eastern part of Ukraine, where fighting broke out between the Russian-backed government forces and separatists, which since April 2014, has killed more than 10,300 people.