Son of ex‑Ukraine president finds new home with Russian passport
Oleksandr Yanukovych, the only surviving son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has received Russian citizenship, reports "The Moscow Times," citing the government agency RIA Novosti. Two years ago, both father and son were subjected to European Union sanctions for supporting Russia.
12:35 PM EDT, October 24, 2024
"The Moscow Times" notes that the 51-year-old Oleksandr Yanukovych previously registered a company in Russia that provides financial and industrial services in St. Petersburg. At that time, government documents indicated that he was a Ukrainian citizen. However, that now appears to have changed.
The state news agency RIA Novosti reported that he is now documented as a Russian citizen, but the newspaper emphasizes that it did not specify when Yanukovych received this new citizenship.
Yanukovych fled from Ukraine
Oleksandr Yanukovych is the son of the former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine after the Euromaidan events of February 2014. The Ukrainian Parliament removed him from power at that time.
According to Reuters, Viktor Yanukovych compared the revolution in the country to "the Nazi takeover in Germany in the 1930s." He referred to the protesters in Maidan as "gangsters." The current President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stripped former President Yanukovych of his Ukrainian citizenship in 2023 as part of an effort to "cleanse" the country of pro-Russian influences.
Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr were added to the sanctions list in 2022 and were banned from entering the European Union. Their assets were also frozen. The sanctions list includes individuals, entities, and bodies subjected to sanctions for actions undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence or threatening its stability and security. Oleksandr Yanukovych faces an additional charge of conducting transactions with separatists in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.
The younger son of the former president, Viktor Yanukovych Jr., died in 2015. He reportedly drowned in Lake Baikal.
