TSIBLI, Kiev region, May 4 – President Viktor Yanukovych says that he knew what he was doing when he was signing the agreement in Kharkiv about the prolongation of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's deployment in Crimea in exchange for a reduced gas price for Ukraine.

"I am giving an answer to this question to those politicians who are arguing round and round the subject. I want to tell these so-called patriots that I did it knowingly, in order to save the country, to raise the level of the economy, and I took this step together with the government," Yanukovych said during a meeting with veterans in the town of Tsibli on Wednesday.