Kyiv court orders arrest of former Ukrainian president in Russia

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has granted permission for the arrest of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, according to a statement published by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office on Telegram on Thursday.

The court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention of the former president, who is suspected of organizing illegal smuggling of people across the state border of Ukraine, according to the statement.

“On February 23rd in 2014, Yanukovych together with the State Security personnel and representatives from the Russian Federation, with the help of three helicopters of the Russian Armed Forces illegally crossed and transported at least 20 people across the state border on the outskirts of Urzuf in Donetsk region to Anapa in Russia,” the statement read.

It is not clear where Yanukovych currently resides. The prosecutor’s office said Thursday he had fled to the Russian city of Anapa. In March, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform quoted media reports that claimed Yanukovych was in Minsk, Belarus.

Yanukovych served as president of Ukraine from 2010 until 2014, when he was removed from office during the Maidan protests. The protests erupted after Yanukovych rejected the Ukrainian-European Association Agreement, which would bring Ukraine closer to the European Union and further away from Russia.

CNN