You're reading: From Kyiv Post archives: Viktor Yanukovych, Wanted For Mass Murder

Editor's Note: The following Kyiv Post article was originally published on Feb. 28, 2014, at 12:58 a.m.

Overthrown Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, wanted for mass murder and stealing as much as $70 billion from Ukraine in the last three years, remains defiant as a fugitive from justice.

According to RIA Novosti and other Russian news agencies, Yanukovych is planning to hold a 5 p.m. Feb. 28 press conference in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city near the Azov Sea.

However, Ukrainian authorities showed their own determination, promising to catch Yanukovych and put him on trial for his alleged crimes.

First Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said “we’ll do everything possible to submit all the documents necessary to ensure Yanukovych, (ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy) Zakharchenko and (ex-Prosecutor General Viktor) Pshonka are searched for by Interpol. We’ll ensure that Yanukovych is returned to Ukraine as soon as possible and is brought to criminal account.”

Yarema, when asked about reports that Yanukovych is still issuing presidential decrees, said: “These are just convulsions. Yanukovych is politically dead, and all these decisions have no judicial power.”

According to a written statement to the Ukrainian people, obtained and published by several news agencies in Russia, Yanukovych claims to be the legitimate president of Ukraine – despite being removed from office by parliament on Feb. 22 after he fled his palatial estate 20 kilometers north of Kyiv as well as his presidential duties.

At the same time, Russian news agencies reported he was in Moscow, where the government was providing him safe haven.

Meanwhile, in what is widely seen as a related issue, tensions have escalated in the Crimean capital of Simferopol as armed separatists stormed the autonomous republic’s government buildings – including its parliament and administration buildings. Two people were killed and up to 30 injured in clashes on Feb. 26, officials reported.

“I, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, am addressing the people of Ukraine. I still believe myself to be the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state elected in a free vote by Ukrainian citizens,” said Yanukovych’s address, according to Interfax news service on Feb. 27.

The Kyiv Post could not independently confirm the authenticity of the statement.

Yanukovych, impeached for dereliction of duty and gross human rights violations, said he has asked the Russian authorities to ensure his personal security. He is wanted on an arrest warrant charging him with mass murder in the slayings of more than 90 EuroMaidan demonstrators since Nov. 21, with most of the deaths taking place on Feb. 20.

Newly confirmed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk also alleged that Yanukovych committed massive financial crimes. Yatseniuk estimated the former president siphoned as much as $70 billion out of Ukraine in the last three years.

Yanukovych’s statement, far from acknowledging any wrongdoing, complained of threats against him and allies.

“Threats of reprisals are coming to me and my associates. I have to ask the authorities of the Russian Federation to ensure my personal security from extremists’ actions,” his statement said.

Yanukovych described the latest decisions adopted by the country’s parliament as illegitimate.

“I officially declare my determination to fight until the end for the implementation of the important compromise agreements concerning the Ukrainian recovery from the profound political crisis,” he wrote.

Yatseniuk reacted to the former president’s statement on Feb. 27 by reaffirming that Yanukovych “is no longer the president. He is a wanted person who is suspected of mass murder, committing a crime against humanity.”

Interim Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky said at a briefing in Kyiv on Feb. 26 that the ex-president and ex-Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko had been put on the international wanted list, among other former officials.

The manhunt for them, however, got off to a slow start. “The general prosecutor’s office ordered police to find Yanukovych on Sunday (Feb. 23),” First Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Holomsha said on Feb. 26.

But as of nightfall on Feb. 27, the ex-president had not been posted to the Interior Ministry’s online fugitive database or on Interpol’s international wanted list. At a Feb. 26 press conference, Avakov said the police “didn’t have time to put the names on the database yet.”

Oleh Tiahnybok, leader of the Svoboda Party, said that Yanukovych “should have been” on all international and national wanted lists.

Asked by the Kyiv Post about progress made in the search, Holomsha said that “enough people” have been interrogated, including some of his former Party of Regions allies. However, Yanukovych’s wife Liudmyla Yanukovych had not yet been questioned as of Feb. 27.

The manhunt involves an investigative group of about 100 people that includes some 40 police officers, according to Avakov. But he was short on details when pressed about what specifically the group was doing to track down the toppled leader.

In his Feb. 24 statement, Avakov said Yanukovych had flown a helicopter to Kharkiv on Feb. 21, and then made his way to Donetsk the next day. There he attempted to flee Ukraine by plane, but was stopped by border service guards for not having proper documentation. He later went by car to the coastal Crimean city of Balaclava, near Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol, before cutting communication and disappearing.

Crimea is where Avakov went looking for him on Feb. 23-24, along with Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the newly appointed head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). But the two called off their search in a bid to reduce regional tensions, Avakov told journalists on Feb. 26.

“I believe that we should not allow any military confrontation or conflict there (in Crimea),” he said.

Pro- and anti-Russian protesters faced off in the autonomous republic’s capital of Simferopol on Feb. 25-27, over the newly appointed government in Kyiv. At about 4 a.m. on Feb. 27, armed pro-Russian gunmen stormed and took control of the regional government headquarters and parliament and raised the Russian flag atop the building.

Rumors as to Yanukovych’s whereabouts ran the gamut.

As of the Kyiv Post’s deadline late on Feb. 27, Yanukovych’s exact location remained a mystery, but his statement, along with unconfirmed Russian news reports that he had already purchased a home in Moscow for $52 million, led many to believe that he plans to live in Russia.

Meanwhile, as tempers flared in Crimea, where supporters of Ukraine’s new government clashed with pro-Russia demonstrators. Two died and more than 30 were injured during confrontations there, officials said.

Zair Akadyrov, an editor for Crimean newspaper Argumenty Nedeli in Simferopol, said journalists were not allowed inside the Crimean Parliament for a closed emergency session during which a referendum on greater autonomy will be held on May 25, the same day the country’s early presidential elections will take place.

Akadyrov said hundreds of Berkut riot police patrolled the building during the session, despite the group having been disbanded by Avakov, the nation’s top cop, on Feb. 24.

A high-ranking Ukrainian Foreign Ministry source believes that the gunmen who took over the Crimean government buildings are Russians.

“They (the Russians) are going to legitimize Yanukovych, and the situation in the country is going to sharpen in the next days because of the standoff in Crimea and the unclear situation in Crimean parliament,” Akadyrov said.

In his statement, Yanukovych called for all lawmakers who still support him to gather in Sevastopol on March 3.

A Ukrainian government source said on Feb. 27 that Russia has been warned against interfering in Crimea.

The source said that the Foreign Ministry warned the Russian Federation against unauthorized movement of military vehicles on the peninsula. The note said that these moves would violate the bilateral agreement allowing the Russian military base in Crimea.

Earlier in the day, there were reports of Russian armored personnel vehicles moving on the southern coast and jets scrambling to the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine is hoping to solve the problem internally, but is prepared to engage third parties to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

“If we don’t solve it ourselves, we will try to use the Budapest Memorandum (on Security Assurances),” the Foreign Ministry source said. Under the 1994 accord agreed to when Ukraine gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States serve as guarantors of Ukraine’s borders.

Ukraine might also address the United Nation’s Security Council and invite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to intervene.

Besides arrest warrants against Yanukovych, other former top officials remain under investigation in his administration. Those include ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who is suspected of financial crimes.

Others charged with complicity in the mass murders of demonstrators include: former presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev; ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka; ex-head of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) Oleksandr Yakymenko; and ex-Interior Ministry troops commander Stanislav Shuliak.

Makhnitsky, Ukraine’s new top prosecutor, said “this is not the final list. The investigations go on and new names are going to be added soon.”

If Yanukovych is convicted of murder and financial times, he faces the third prison sentence of his life. He served two prison terms in his youth, in 1967 and 1970, for assault and theft.

Kyiv Post editors Christopher J. Miller and Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively. Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko contributed to this report.