Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko speaking on July 30 in an interview with RFE/RL Belarus Service correspondent Hanna Sous in Kyiv about French actor Gerard Depardieu's remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine:
RFE/RL: The Ukrainian government has just announced that Gerard Depardieu will be barred from entering Ukraine for five years as a result of his recent anti-Ukrainian remarks. We all know that the French star met with you on several past visits to Ukraine; it was even said that the two of you were friends. He wore an embroidered Ukrainian shirt. Everything between you seemed fine. What's your reaction to Depardieu's recent anti-Ukrainian remarks? How do you reconcile them with your previous association with the star?
Viktor Yushchenko: I really don't understand Gerard's behavior during the past few years. In my relations with him and within our family circle, I was deeply convinced that [Depardieu] had Putin pegged correctly. He reiterated these impressions dozens of times. For ethical reasons, I won't quote the [exact] words he used, because you'd have to bleep out [those words] on the air. I was sure that he believed the things he was saying. Today, I can't imagine what ulterior motives might have forced a man his age to be so misguided. I think that he debased his nation with his pro-Russian stance over the past couple of years.
Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.
Final Summary For September 21
-- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called on Russia to withdraw heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine.
-- No trucks have passed through the administrative border from mainland Ukraine to Crimea overnight, according to Oleh Slobodyan, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Service.
-- Hundreds of pro-Kyiv activists from Crimea's Tatar community and other opposition activists are taking part in the blockade of roads from Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula to protest Russia's annexation of the region last year.
-- The German government has criticized Russia for not distancing itself from plans by Russian-backed separatists to hold local elections in eastern Ukraine without consulting Kyiv.
*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv