Victor Yanukovich

Actor

Born: Yenakiyevo, Stalino Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Yenakiieve, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]

BIOGRAPHY

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (Ві́ктор Фе́дорович Януко́вич, ; born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth President of Ukraine from February 2010 until his removal from power in February 2014. He is currently in exile in Russia and wanted by Ukraine for high treason.Yanukovych served as the governor of Donetsk Oblast, a province in eastern Ukraine, from 1997 to 2002. He was Prime Minister of Ukraine from 21 November 2002 to 31 December 2004, under President Leonid Kuchma. Yanukovych first ran for president in 2004: he advanced to the runoff election, and initially defeated his opponent. However, the election was fraught with allegations of fraud and voter intimidation. This caused widespread citizen protests and Kievs Independence Square was occupied in what became known as the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the runoff election, and ordered a second runoff. Yanukovych lost this second runoff election to Viktor Yushchenko. Yanukovych served as Prime Minister for a second time from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007, under President Yushchenko.Yanukovych was elected President in 2010, defeating Yulia Tymoshenko. November 2013 saw the beginning of a series of events that led to his ousting as President. Yanukovych rejected a pending EU association agreement, choosing instead to pursue a Russian loan bailout and closer ties with Russia. This led to popular protests and the occupation of Kievs Independence Square, a series of events dubbed the Euromaidan by young pro-European Union Ukrainians. In January 2014, this developed into deadly clashes in Independence Square and in other areas across Ukraine, as Ukrainian citizens confronted the Berkut and other special police units. In February 2014, Ukraine appeared to be on the brink of civil war, as violent clashes between protesters and special police forces led to many deaths and injuries. On 21 February 2014, Yanukovych claimed that, after lengthy discussions, he had reached an agreement with the opposition. Later that day, however, he left the capital for a speaking engagement in Kharkiv, coming under fire as he left Kiev, and travelling next to Crimea, and eventually to exile in southern Russia.On 22 February, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove him from his post, on the grounds that he was unable to fulfill his duties. Although the legislative removal by an impeachment procedure would have lacked the number of votes required by Ukraines constitution, the resolution did not follow the impeachment procedure but instead established that Yanukovych withdrew from his duties in an unconstitutional manner and citing circumstances of extreme urgency, a situation for which there was no stipulation in the then-current Ukrainian constitution. Parliament set 25 May as the date for the special election to select his replacement, and, two days later, issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of mass killing of civilians.After his departure, Yanukovych conducted several press conferences. In one of these, he declared himself to remain the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state elected in a free vote by Ukrainian citizens. On 3 October 2014, several news agencies reported that according to a Facebook post made by the aide to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Anton Gerashchenko, Viktor Yanukovych had been granted Russian citizenship by a secret decree of Vladimir Putin. On the same day, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he didnt know anything about this.On 18 June 2015, Yanukovych was officially deprived of the title of President of Ukraine by the Supreme Rada of Ukraine.

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