Viktor Yanukovych
People's Deputy of Ukraine 5th convocation 25 May 2006 – 12 September 2006 Elected as: Party of Regions, No.1 6th convocation 23 November 2007 – 19 February 2010 Elected as: Party of Regions, No.1 Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (Ukrainian: Ві ктор Фе дорович Януко вич,  listen (help·info); Russian: Виктор Фёдорович Янукович; 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. 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, advancing to the runoff election and initially defeating his opponent; but amid widespread citizen protests and occupation of Kiev's Independence Square (in what became known as the Orange Revolution), the Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the runoff election, which was fraught with allegations of fraud and voter intimidation, and ordered a second runoff. Yanukovych lost the 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 ouster 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 Kiev's 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 fled the capital for Kharkiv, travelling next to the 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 lacked the number of votes required by Ukraine's then-current 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." Since his departure, Yanukovych has conducted several press conferences. In one of these, he has declared himself to remain "the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state elected in a free vote by Ukrainian citizens". In an April 2014 poll, however, only 4.9% of respondents expressed a desire to see Yanukovych return to the presidency. 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 commented on this news saying that he didn't know anything about this and hadn't seen such a decree. In January 2015 Viktor Yanukovych was listed by Interpol as "wanted by the judicial authorities of Ukraine for prosecution / to serve a sentence" on charges of "misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by malversation, if committed in respect of an especially gross amount, or by an organized group".