Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, in self-imposed exile in Russia, insisted Tuesday that he is still the leader of Ukraine. Acting President Oleksandr V. Turchynov disagrees, arguing in Wednesday's New York Times that when the Russia-backed Yanukovych "crossed the line and unleashed gunfire against his own people... he lost his legitimacy as the president."
But besides denouncing Yanukovych as "a dictator who had been groomed for the role of a puppet ruler" controlled by Russia's Vladimir Putin, and darkly warning that further military incursion will create a bloody crisis and "put an end to the global security system," Turchynov makes a bolder claim: Putin has already lost Ukraine, and with it his last hope to "prevent the final demise of the Soviet empire." He continues:
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