Yanukovych Confirms He Invited Russian Intervention

In an interview with AP today, the ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych confirmed that he invited Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Readers will remember the Russian ambassador waiving of a letter to that effect in the Security Council, without actually making the copies of the letter available. I may be wrong, but I think this is the first time Yanukovych actually admitted that he made the invitation (which does not mean, of course, that it was legally valid, or that the invitation, such as it was, extended to the annexation of Ukrainian territory):

Putin said last month that Yanukovych had asked Russia to send its troops to Ukraine to protect its people — a request seen as treason by many Ukrainians. Asked about the move, Yanukovych said he had made a mistake.

“I was wrong,” he said. “I acted on my emotions.”

A mistake, was it? I’m sure there must be some equivalent for ‘no backsies’ in Russian.