A Ukrainian court on Monday sentenced former President Viktor Yanukovych to 15 years in prison over his 2014 escape to Russia, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on April 28.
The Podilsky District Court in Kyiv found Yanukovych guilty of organizing the illegal transfer of people across Ukraine’s border and inciting desertion.
The charges stem from Yanukovych’s flight to Russia with his inner circle in February 2014 following the Euromaidan Revolution that toppled his government.
Konstantin Kobzar, the former head of Yanukovych’s security detail, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on related charges.
Prosecutors said Yanukovych and Kobzar orchestrated the illegal flight of at least 20 close associates and security personnel to Russia, encouraging them to abandon their posts.
“Yanukovych and his group departed without passing through an official border checkpoint. They took off from near the village of Urzuf in the Donetsk region aboard three Russian military helicopters operated by pilots from Russia’s Armed Forces,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
“They first flew to a military airfield in Yeisk, Russia, before continuing on to Anapa. From there, they boarded a military transport aircraft provided by Russian forces and traveled to the Gvardeyskoye airfield in Crimea.”
According to the prosecutors, while hiding at a Russian naval base in Sevastopol’s Cossack Bay, Yanukovych incited members of Ukraine’s State Security Administration tasked with his protection to desert and follow him to Russia.
He was eventually evacuated by sea, along with some of his security staff, via a Russian military vessel.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said Yanukovych’s entire escape route was organized, controlled and escorted by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and military personnel from Russia’s Southern Military District.
His movements, prosecutors added, were directly coordinated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The latest verdict marks the second conviction for Yanukovych, who has lived in Russia for more than 11 years. In 2019, a Ukrainian court sentenced him in absentia to 13 years for high treason and complicity in waging an aggressive war.
Yanukovych has denied all charges.