BELGRADE, January 31. /TASS/. The US played a key role in the toppling of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in 2014 in order to install an anti-Russian regime, Jeffrey Sachs, a UN expert on sustainable development goals, said in an interview for Serbia’s Politika. "The [US] neocons continued to push NATO towards expansion, so the confrontation gained momentum in 2014, when the US played a key role in toppling the Ukrainian President, who adhered to neutral positions, in order to install an anti-Russian regime later," Sachs said. The expert noted that the course of NATO expansion to Ukraine and Georgia was adopted by US President George Bush Jr. back in 2008. According to the researcher, the events of 2008 - the five-day war, caused by Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia - indicated that "this is not a wise way to go." On February 21, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine voted to remove President Yanukovich from office amid mass riots that took the lives of several dozen people. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, preterm cessation of the Presidential office is possible only in the case of resignation, inability to fulfill duties due to bad health, impeachment or death, but none of these conditions were met. The same day, the Ukrainian parliament set a new date for presidential elections - May 25, 2014. The elections were won by Pyotr Poroshenko, but, before that, Rada Speaker Alexander Turchinov acted as the interim president. After the coup, Ukraine embarked on an anti-Russian course and passed a number of laws that limit the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population of the country, which led to a civil war in Ukraine’s southeast.

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BELGRADE, January 31. /TASS/. The US played a key role in the toppling of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in 2014 in order to install an anti-Russian regime, Jeffrey Sachs, a UN expert on sustainable development goals, said in an interview for Serbia’s Politika. "The [US] neocons continued to push NATO towards expansion, so the confrontation gained momentum in 2014, when the US played a key role in toppling the Ukrainian President, who adhered to neutral positions, in order to install an anti-Russian regime later," Sachs said. The expert noted that the course of NATO expansion to Ukraine and Georgia was adopted by US President George Bush Jr. back in 2008. According to the researcher, the events of 2008 - the five-day war, caused by Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia - indicated that "this is not a wise way to go." On February 21, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine voted to remove President Yanukovich from office amid mass riots that took the lives of several dozen people. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, preterm cessation of the Presidential office is possible only in the case of resignation, inability to fulfill duties due to bad health, impeachment or death, but none of these conditions were met. The same day, the Ukrainian parliament set a new date for presidential elections - May 25, 2014. The elections were won by Pyotr Poroshenko, but, before that, Rada Speaker Alexander Turchinov acted as the interim president. After the coup, Ukraine embarked on an anti-Russian course and passed a number of laws that limit the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population of the country, which led to a civil war in Ukraine’s southeast.