Russian propagandists have released a video featuring Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted former Ukrainian president who is now on the run, in which he claims he “worked purposefully to bring Ukraine closer to the EU, but the Europeans behaved improperly”.
Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet
Quote: “Vladimir Vladimirovich [Russian leader Vladimir Putin – ed.] is absolutely right: indeed, I worked purposefully to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union. Ultimately, my goal was Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Another point is that our partners on the EU side sometimes behaved, to put it mildly, improperly during the negotiations. They showed no understanding of the difficult economic situation and displayed arrogance. But I oversaw and advanced the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.”
Details: Yanukovych also said he “has always been categorically and staunchly opposed to Ukraine joining NATO”. According to the fugitive former president, “Kyiv’s accession to the Alliance would have been a catastrophe and a direct path to civil war”.
The time and place of the recording are not specified.
Previously: On 1 September, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin claimed at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit that one of the reasons for the “crisis in Ukraine” [as Russian propaganda refers to the war – ed.] was not Russia’s full-scale invasion, but “the West’s attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO”.
For reference: Prolonged protests in Ukraine, later known as the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, began on 21 November 2013 in response to a government decision to suspend preparations for the signing of an Association Agreement with the European Union. In late February 2014, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.
Background:
In April 2025, Yanukovych and Kostiantyn Kobzar, former deputy head of the State Guard Department of Ukraine, were sentenced to 15 and 10 years in prison respectively by the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv.Yanukovych was found guilty of organising the illegal transfer of persons across Ukraine’s state border and of incitement to desertion (Articles 332.2, 27.4 and 408.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Kobzar was convicted of organising the illegal transfer of persons across the state border and of desertion (Articles 332.2 and 408.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).In January 2019, Yanukovych was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for treason and complicity in waging a war of aggression (Articles 111.1, 27.5 and 437.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).Russian propaganda occasionally makes use of Yanukovych, recording and releasing videos for its own purposes.
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