Viktor Yanukovych has the rare distinction of having been ousted twice from Ukraine’s presidency after massive street protests. A protest against his decision to abandon a far-reaching European Union partnership deal in November 2013 morphed into a huge — and violent — campaign to push him out of power.
But it was the deaths of at least 88 people, many of them protesters shot dead by uniformed snipers in 48 hours of bloodshed, that ultimately ousted him. The killings sent shockwaves around the world.
Under EU pressure he signed a deal to transfer powers to parliament and hold early elections. But within hours he had fled the capital and his administration crumbled. As Ukraine’s protest leaders and opposition moved to fill the power vacuum, Yanukovych, 63, maintained he was still the lawfully elected president.
As he headed for neighbouring Russia, Kiev’s new rulers issued an arrest warrant for his role in the “mass murder of innocent civilians”.
Rise to power
Born into the family of a metal worker and a nurse in the eastern town of Yenakiyevo in July 1950, Yanukovych had a troubled childhood. He was twice jailed for violent crimes in his youth — though his official biography states that his convictions were eventually quashed.
“I came from a very poor family and my main dream in life was to break out of this poverty,” he once told journalists.
Beginning his career as a transport executive in the Soviet Union’s key coal-mining industry in eastern Ukraine, he became a Doctor of Economics — the equivalent of a PhD — in 2000. He became governor of the Donetsk region, home to more than three million people and the economic powerhouse of Ukraine, less than a year after entering the local administration.
The then President, Leonid Kuchma, appointed him prime minister in November 2002, in a government accused of corruption and economic mismanagement.
As the outgoing leader’s protégé, he went on to win the 2004 presidential vote. But after huge protests in Kiev that became known as the Orange Revolution, the election was declared fraudulent, badly denting his reputation.
He rebuilt his political career while the victors of 2004, Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, fell into constant conflict. He served a second term as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and became Ukraine’s most popular politician.
The 2010 presidential election he won cleanly — according to international observers — defeating arch-rival Tymoshenko. The following year, she was jailed for seven years on charges of abusing power, in a trial she insisted was politically motivated.
During his presidency, Yanukovych steered Ukraine towards a closer relationship with the EU. But then, days before it was due to be signed, he rejected an association agreement in November 2013.
Street protests, the biggest since the 2004 Orange Revolution, erupted and continued for months, reaching a bloody climax between February 18 and 22.
With the ousted president on the run, Tymoshenko was freed.
A luxurious lifestyle
How he escaped is unclear. But unconfirmed reports placed him first in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where he recorded a video message, lashing out at the “bandits” who had taken over Ukraine. There he flew by helicopter to Donetsk but an attempt to fly an aircraft to Russia was foiled.
The next reported sighting was in the Crimean peninsula. The trail then went cold, until the ousted president asked for and was granted protection in Russia.
It was clear that Yanukovych had abandoned his private estate outside Kiev in a hurry.
Within hours of his departure, Ukrainians were able to see for themselves the opulence of his palatial retreat, surrounded by 140 hectares of grounds. The estate, complete with sauna and a private zoo, is a stark contrast with the grinding poverty that afflicts many Ukrainians. Hundreds of documents were found in a nearby river, revealing lavish spending and alleged corruption.
Yanukovych’s closest ties and support base have always been with mainly Russian speaking eastern and southern Ukraine.
Back in 2004, Yanukovych had openly been supported by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, but relations became strained, not least because of a dispute about the cost of Russian gas.
Yanukovych tried hard to shed the image of being “Moscow’s man” and when he became president he pointedly made his first foreign trip in that capacity to Brussels rather than Moscow.
But with Ukraine’s finances in a parlous state, he argued that free trade ties with the EU would jeopardise Ukraine’s existing trade with Russia. The EU refused his demand for substantial compensation.
Russia had already started tightening the economic screws with various measures, including a ban on imported Ukrainian sweets.
Billionaire oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, a powerful industrialist and owner of Shakhtar Donetsk football club, was a political ally of Yanukovych until the explosion of violence in Kiev. Energy tycoon Dmytro Firtash has also been a powerful voice in Ukraine’s economic policy circles.
And during his time in office, Yanukovych’s two sons were influential — businessman Olexander and Viktor Yanukovych Jr, an MP.
With his presidency ending in ignominy and his entourage apparently deserting him, it was his sons who went with him as he fled. And it was to Russia that he looked for sanctuary.
At his first news conference after leaving Ukraine, given in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, he spoke against any military intervention or future division of his country. He made clear he had fled Kiev in fear of life and would not return without guarantees of safety for himself and his family.
–Compiled from bbc.com
This column aims to profile personalities who made the news once but have now faded from the spotlight.
What he said:
“We must improve our lives and we will do it together — all of our citizens and myself as president of Ukraine.”
“For me, there are no my people and strangers, no bad people and good people. All people are equal for me.”
“I am sure that the Ukrainian nation deserves a better life. That is why I have voted for good changes and for stability.”
