The European Union has imposed new sanctions on former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Alexander in connection with the war in Ukraine. This is stated in the EU magazine.
They are included in the sanctions list "for their role in undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and benefiting from the Russians responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine." It is also noted that Alexander Yanukovych carried out financial transactions with the authorities of the "LPR" and "DPR".
The text says that Yanukovych, during his presidential term in Ukraine (2010-2014), pursued a pro-Russian policy, facilitated the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, and after being removed from power, moved to Russia, from where he “continued activities aimed at to destabilize Ukraine. The EU Council, citing data from various sources, claims that Yanukovych "was part of a Russian special operation to replace the Ukrainian president with him."
In 2014, the former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych and six people from his entourage were included in the EU sanctions list on the basis of a criminal case that was initiated in Ukraine after the coup. However, in July 2019, the European Court of Justice lifted these restrictions.
Yanukovych was President of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. After the Euromaidan, he fled to Russia. Several criminal cases have been opened against him in Ukraine. According to one of them, in 2019, the ex-president was sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison for treason and complicity in “waging an aggressive war.” In 2021, he was charged with another charge of high treason in connection with the conclusion of an agreement with Russia in 2010 on the presence of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.