SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. Crimea’s executive authorities controlled by ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich betrayed the population of the peninsula by negotiating with "Euromaidan" representatives against the people’s wishes, Crimean State Council Chairman Vladimir Konstantinov said in an interview with TASS.

In November 2013, people started protesting in Kiev thus responding to the Ukrainian government stalling the process of signing an agreement on an association with the EU. Following the months long protests, Yanukovich was removed from power on February 22, 2014.

"My attempts to figure out what was going on with the executive authorities in Crimea came to nothing. Later we understood that even the Crimean government betrayed its people. The entire executive authority system headed by Yanukovich was ready to hand Crimea over to the Nazis to cover their own backsides. They turned out to have already held the corresponding negotiations. Due to my political naivety, I could not even suppose that it is possible to negotiate something with people who are trying to destroy you. However, the government’s leaders communicated just fine with them," Konstantinov said.

He added that amid these tough conditions the region’s population was made to choose its destiny. "Crimeans were left one-on-one with this story. And we endured it. The Supreme Council building, republican MPs, people who came out to defend us - all this became a symbol of the new emerging Russian Crimea. And on the night of February 26-27, the Russian flag rose above our building," he recalled.