Yanukovych: Mezhyhiria residence is not mine. I just supported the ostriches that lived there

Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych denied allegations that he had embezzled funds from the Ukrainian state and was hiding money in foreign bank accounts.

He stated this in an interview with BBC, Censor.NET reports.

His opulent residence outside Kiev, thrown open to public gaze by protesters after he fled, did not belong to him personally, he said.

Receipts detailing millions of dollars spent on the complex were, he said, "political technology" and spin, adding that he needed a place for international meetings. The ostriches in the residence's petting zoo, he maintained, "just happened to be there." "I supported the ostriches. What's wrong with that?" he asked.

"Yes, there was corruption, no one denies that. But a year and a half has passed, those in power have all the means at their disposal. Show us, where are the bank accounts of Yanukovych? They don't exist and never have done."

According to Yanukovych, the house in the territory of the residence, totaling 630 sq. m. which he bought with his own declared money in the amount of $3,000,000.

This is the first interview of the ousted former president to Western media since his exile.