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Ukraine Sentences Ex-President Yanukovych to 15 Years for Illegal Escape to Russia
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![Ivan_khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
-21d0b63c17f6020e4df75f6c6f9a2f4f.jpg "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has received a new sentence from a Ukrainian court. On April 28, Kyiv’s Podilskyi District Court sentenced Yanukovych in absentia to 15 years in prison for organizing the illegal crossing of Ukraine’s state border and inciting desertion.
His former head of security, Kostiantyn Kobzar, was sentenced to 10 years.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, the case centered on events from February 2014. Prosecutors proved that on February 23, 2014, Yanukovych, acting in coordination with Kobzar and representatives of the Russian Federation, crossed Ukraine’s border illegally by air and organized the unauthorized evacuation of at least 20 individuals, including members of his inner circle and personnel from the State Guard of Ukraine (UDO).
The group departed outside a designated border checkpoint, using three military helicopters operated by Russian Armed Forces pilots.
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They flew from the vicinity of Urzuf village in Donetsk region to a military airfield in Yeysk, Russia. After a short stay, they traveled to Anapa and then to the military airfield “Hvardiyske” in Crimea on a Russian military transport aircraft.
Later, while staying at a Russian naval base in Sevastopol’s Kozacha Bay, Yanukovych encouraged members of his security detail to desert their service and relocate to Russia.
Several UDO personnel subsequently fled with him by sea from Crimea to Russian territory and did not return to military duty.
The investigation established that Yanukovych’s movements across Ukrainian and Russian territory were fully coordinated and monitored by Russia’s Federal Protective Service and military forces of Russia’s Southern Military District. The route was personally approved by the Vladimir Putin.
The trial proceeded under special in absentia procedure, as both Yanukovych and Kobzar remain outside Ukraine and are evading justice. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation.
The court fully upheld the charges presented by prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office’s “Maidan Affairs” Department and imposed the maximum possible penalties: 15 years for Yanukovych and 10 years for Kobzar.
Previously, in 2019, Yanukovych was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Ukrainian court on charges of treason.
Currently, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Yanukovych resides in Barvikha, an elite settlement near Moscow known for housing high-ranking Russian officials. Kobzar is also reported to be living in Moscow.
Earlier, an investigation by the Russian outlet Important Stories revealed that a company allegedly linked to Oleksandr Yanukovych, the son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, exported nearly half a million tons of coal from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories over the past two years, profiting through offshore schemes and transfer pricing mechanisms.
