You're reading: Neither Yanukovych himself nor Russia confirm his whereabouts

Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) hasn't received confirmed from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych himself or Russia about the whereabouts of the former president.

“If a person is in the territory of other states, then procedures are being carried out to identify a person and documents, which confirm this is the very person requested for, are collected. Afterwards a motion on international legal assistance to the given states is sent. In this case we have no confirmation either from Yanukovych himself, or Russia, that he is in a definite place, that he was identified, or that he was detained and investigation could be carried against him. So to say we have no replies,” chief of the PGO special investigations department Serhiy Horbatiuk said at a briefing in Kyiv.

According to Horbatiuk, since Yanukovych is hiding from investigators, he is placed on the wanted list in a number of criminal proceedings, where he is a suspect.

The documents regarding the search have been submitted to the Interpol international bureau only on one criminal proceeding, which concerns the suspicion of embezzlement during the Ukrtelecom privatization, and Yanukovych has been placed on the international wanted list.

Since there was information on Yanukovych staying in Russia, in early 2015 a request to detain and extradite the former president was sent to Russia, Horbatiuk said.

“Up until now a response from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has not come,” Horbatiuk said. In May 2015 a reminder was sent to Russia but again no reply came, he said.

In order to question the suspect searched for, it is necessary to detain him first, Horbatiuk said. “As we can see, our requests for Yanukovych’s detention in Russia are not complied with and they are not even replied to,” he said.