European Union member states imposed sanctions on Ukraine’s former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych and his son Alexander on Thursday (August 4) for their alleged role in threatening Ukraine’s security. The European Council said in a statement that the two men had been added to the European sanctions list.in response to Russia’s unjustified military aggression against Ukraine“.
Viktor Yanukovych was president of Ukraine from February 2010 to 2014. President Putin’s Russia responded to its ally’s defeat by seizing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and the eastern Donbass enclave. In February, Moscow launched an all-out offensive against Ukraine. Several European Union and NATO member states are providing sophisticated weaponry to Kiev to defend itself, and Brussels has imposed a series of sanctions.
“Role in achieving territorial integrity» from Ukraine
“The EU believes that 72-year-old Viktor Yanukovych, who lives in Russia, is still playing.”role in undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine“. A statement published in the EU’s official journal on Thursday accused him of trying to return to power in Ukraine if a Russian invasion succeeds in ousting President Volodymyr Zelensky. “According to various sources, Mr. Viktor Yanukovych participated in the Russian special operation in the first stages of the illegal military aggression against Ukraine, the purpose of which was to replace the President of Ukraine with himself.“, the newspaper notes. His son was sanctioned for the same reason and “made deals with separatist groups in the Donbass region“.
The 49-year-old is accused of enriching himself through ties to his father’s former regime and owning businesses and real estate in the country.the republicsself-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk territories controlled by pro-Russian forces in Donbass. As sanctioned persons, Viktor Yanukovych and his son will be subject to an EU visa ban and the freezing of any assets in EU countries.
Source: Le Figaro
