Reuters TATYANA MAKEYEVA
The Government Investigation Office of Ukraine has charged with high treason, the former president of the country, Viktor Yanukovych, who is a refugee to Russia, in a new criminal case against him.
The office indicated that the accusation was brought because of Yanukovych’s signature of an agreement on extending the station of the Russian fleet in the Crimea in 2010.
The agreement, called the Kharkov Agreement, provided for the extension of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea for 25 years in exchange for reducing the price of Russian gas to Ukraine by 30%.
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The Ukrainian authorities considered that the agreement inflicted damage on the Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, the security of the state and the security of its economy, as the conclusion of the agreement led to “increasing the number of Russian forces on the territory of Ukraine instead of reducing it and preparing for its withdrawal.”
It is noteworthy that Yanukovych was ousted in 2014, when he was convicted in Ukraine in absentia on charges of high treason, in addition to “waging an aggressive war and helping to plan and prepare for it” in a case related to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment, while Yanukovych denied the charges against him, considering the verdict “illegal.”
Source: TASS
