EU imposes new sanctions against Yanukovych and his son

Former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014, and his eldest son are involved in "undermining or threatening the territorial integrity" of Ukraine, the EU said.Several criminal cases have been opened against them in the country.Victor Yanukovich

The European Union has imposed new sanctions against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr, according to the EU magazine.

The Council of the EU ruled that they should be 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.”

Crimea became part of Russia in March 2014 following a referendum in which the majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula voted for joining Russia. Kyiv still considers the peninsula "occupied territory" and accuses Moscow of annexation. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the issue of Crimea is closed.

The justification for the restrictions states that Yanukovych, as president of Ukraine (2010-2014), pursued a “pro-Russian policy”, and after being removed from power, he moved to Russia, from where he “continued activities aimed at destabilizing 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."

Yanukovych "paternally" turned to Zelensky Politics

Brussels also recalled the proposal of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who in March called on the incumbent Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to hand over power to Yanukovych. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, later said that Moscow, conducting a military operation in Ukraine, does not aim to change the government in the country.

As for Alexander Yanukovych, the EU statement says that he conducts commercial activities in the territory of Donbas not controlled by Kyiv, in particular in the energy, coal, construction, banking and real estate sectors and has “close ties with pro-Russian separatists.”

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Several criminal cases have been initiated against Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine, including those under Part 1 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code (treason). Under this article, the former head of state faces up to 15 years in prison. In 2019, he was sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison for aiding and abetting the “war of aggression.” He himself denies guilt.

After the start of the Russian military operation on February 24, Yanukovych “paternally” turned to Zelensky with a call to stop hostilities in the country and reach a peace agreement “at any cost”, and also said that the current head of state rejected his proposed settlement plan in Donbass.

The court allowed the investigation against Yanukovych because of the Black Sea Fleet Politics

In 2014, the Security Service of Ukraine put Oleksandr Yanukovych on the wanted list in a case of official forgery and forgery of documents. At that time, he owned the MAKO-Trading company, which was engaged in the export of Ukrainian coal; Ukrainian Forbes placed him in the top 100 richest people in the country with a fortune of $ 187 million. In addition, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office suspects him of taking possession of the Mezhyhirya residence.

In 2018, Ekonomicheskaya Pravda wrote that Yanukovych's son sold PJSC Donbasenergo, one of the largest electricity producers in Ukraine, to Verkhovna Rada deputy Maxim Yefimov. PJSC includes two thermal power plants - Starobeshevskaya (located in the village of Novy Svet, which has been controlled by the DPR since 2014) and Slavyanskaya, the companies Donbasenergospetsremont, Donbasenergonaladka, Teploelektroproekt, Energotorg and others.

The EU has already imposed sanctions against Yanukovych and his eldest son in 2014, after the ex-president left Ukraine. Since then, the restrictions have been extended annually, most recently in March of this year. Last summer, the European Court of General Jurisdiction upheld Yanukovych's lawsuit against the EU Council and overturned a 2019 decision to extend the blocking of his assets. In its decision, the instance noted that it had already canceled similar decisions of the Council of Europe in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. However, the court decision does not mean that Yanukovych will automatically have access to the frozen assets: on the basis of a court decision, only the Council of the EU can unfreeze them.