Fugitive former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has definitively lost his legal bid to overturn European Union sanctions, the EU’s General Court ruled on Sept. 10.
In its 18-page ruling judges rejected Yanukovych’s appeal, saying his actions in office “contributed to the destabilization of the country,” and justified his inclusion on the sanctions list.
The court also noted that Yanukovych never distanced himself from Russian authorities after fleeing Ukraine and was implicated in a “plot to overthrow” President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022.
His son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, also sought to challenge restrictions imposed on him but saw his complaint dismissed.
Yanukovych was first sanctioned by the EU in 2014. The measures included a travel ban and asset freeze, later expanded in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After more than 100 people died during the Euromaidan protests, he fled to Russia, where he remains in exile. Security forces under Yanukovych’s control killed dozens of protesters who had camped out in central Kyiv demanding pro-EU reforms in what become known as Ukraine’s Maidan revolution in the winter of 2013-2014.
He was impeached by parliament over the bloodshed.
A Ukrainian court in 2019 found Yanukovych guilty of treason for trying to crush the protests. It sentenced him to 13 years in absentia.
In 2023, Zelensky stripped the former president’s affiliates of their Ukrainian citizenship for becoming Russian citizens in accordance with Ukrainian law. But, there has been no explicit announcement that Yanukovych’s citizenship has been revoked.
The former president had argued the EU lacked evidence against him when the sanctions were imposed and claimed no criminal cases were open in Ukraine at the time.
Yanukovych’s presidency, from 2010 to 2014, was marked by widespread corruption, closer alignment with the Kremlin, and violent crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrators.
Last week Yanukovych made a rare public appearance on Russian media, accusing the European Union of “arrogance” in talks with Kyiv held before he was ousted from power.
In a rare interview to Russian state news agencies published Monday, he accused the European Union of behaving “inappropriately” during the integration talks.
He also said Ukraine joining NATO would be “a direct path to civil war.”
“I have always been a categorical and convinced opponent of Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” Yanukovych said.
The state agencies did not say when or where the interview was recorded.