Yanukovych faces second conviction for aiding defection

Prosecutors proved that on February 23, 2014, Yanukovych, in collusion with his former security service chief and Russian representatives, illegally crossed the border and facilitated the transport of at least 20 associates and Administration of State Guard personnel.

They were transported from Donetsk Oblast using three Russian military helicopters, operated by a Russian pilot, to a military airfield in Yeysk, Russia, then to Anapa, and finally by military transport plane to the Hvardiyske airfield in Crimea.

In Crimea, Yanukovych incited State Border Guard Service members protecting him to desert. He and some guards then fled to Russia by ship from Sevastopol. Yanukovych was convicted in absentia of organizing illegal border crossings and inciting desertion (Part 2, Article 332; Part 4, Article 27; Part 2, Article 408 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code).

Additionally, a former deputy head of the Administration of State Guard received a 10-year sentence for organizing illegal border crossings and desertion (Part 2, Article 332; Part 2, Article 408 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code).

Earlier, the State Bureau of Investigation issued desertion charges against 15 Administration of State Guard members who fled with Yanukovych. Investigators found that the agency’s leadership issued orders to discharge these personnel to conceal their desertion, though they left for Russia as active servicemen, according to law enforcement.

Cases against Yanukovych

Yanukovych faces multiple criminal cases since fleeing Ukraine in 2014, including charges related to the illegal acquisition of the Mezhyhirya and Sukholuchchya residences, falsifying votes for “dictatorship laws,” crimes against Maidan protesters, economic offenses, and bribery disguised as book royalties.

On January 24, 2019, Kyiv’s Obolonskyi District Court sentenced Yanukovych in absentia to 13 years for high treason, finding he aided Russia in waging aggressive war against Ukraine.