Your link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation
The main article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_revolution#Removal_of_Yanukovych
There was a lot of confusion as to what was going on in Ukraine in February. Most constitutions don't have a list of procedures listed for when a president flees the country...
Yanukovich took the actions he did WRT the EU association agreement as a direct result of pressure from Putin -
Putin has had his fingers in Ukraine's internal affairs for a long time. Wake up, please. :-)
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
The main article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_revolution#Removal_of_Yanukovych
Removal of Yanukovych[edit]
On 21 February President Yanukovych and the Parliament declared 22 and 23 February to be new days of mourning "Due to the loss of human life as a result of mass disturbances".[248]
In Parliament, Speaker Volodymyr Rybak submitted his resignation, citing alleged illness.[249] Yanukovych's whereabouts were unknown despite media reports he had flown to Kharkiv. Oleksandr Turchynov stated that in fact most of the ministers had disappeared as well as Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko (who is reported to have fled to Belarus[250]) and President Viktor Yanukovych, "The only one legitimate body left is the Verkhovna Rada – so we are here to vote today. The major tasks for today are: to vote for the new speaker, prime minister and interior minister."[209] In the Verkhovna Rada, deputies voted 328:0 (of the 447 deputies)[251] to set the Presidential election date to 25 May.[60][252] The action did not follow the impeachment process as specified by the Constitution of Ukraine (which would have involved formally charging the president with a crime, a review of the charge by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and a three-fourths majority vote – i.e. at least 338 votes in favor – by the Rada); instead, the Verkhovna Rada declared that Yanukovych "withdrew from his duties in an unconstitutional manner" and cited "circumstances of extreme urgency" as the reason for early elections.[253] Oleksandr Turchynov was then voted by parliament Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament and acting President and Prime Minister of Ukraine.[254][255][256]
Turchynov claimed Viktor Yanukovych had agreed to resign as president, but after consulting with advisers, he disavowed the decision and even a pre-recorded resignation statement.[209] Yanukovych said he would not resign or leave the country, and called decisions by parliament "illegal" and that "The events witnessed by our country and the whole world are an example of a coup d'état," comparing it to the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in the 1930s.[257]
The Communist Party office in Kiev was looted by unknown masked men armed with batons.[258]
There was a lot of confusion as to what was going on in Ukraine in February. Most constitutions don't have a list of procedures listed for when a president flees the country...
Yanukovich took the actions he did WRT the EU association agreement as a direct result of pressure from Putin -
Mr Yanukovych, who attended an EU summit in Lithuania on Friday cited pressure from Russia for his decision..
Putin has had his fingers in Ukraine's internal affairs for a long time. Wake up, please. :-)
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.