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Putin's personal bodyguard, ex-Russian army commander helped Yanukovych flee Ukraine in 2014, prosecutor says

Sergei Morozov, the personal bodyguard of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former commander of the Southern Military District Aleksander Galkin were involved in the illegal border crossing of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, prosecutor Denis Ivanov told Ukrinform on April 28.

Earlier in the day, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that Yanukovych was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for inciting desertion and organizing illegal border crossings.

This is Yanukovych's second conviction by a Ukrainian court. In 2019, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for high treason and complicity in waging war of aggression against Ukraine.

Yanukovych, Ukraine's former pro-Russian leader, was ousted following the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014 and subsequently fled to Russia.

According to the prosecutor, during the trial for illegal border crossing, the routes and dates of Yanukovych's movements, as well as the people who facilitated them, were determined.

"All these events took place with the support of the special services of the Russian Federation and the Russian Armed Forces. The Federal Security Service, the military of the Southern Military District, and the Russian Black Sea Fleet were involved," Ivanov said.

"One of the phones used by Yanukovych during his constant movement was connected to Putin's bodyguard," he added.

The decisive direct evidence in this case was the testimony of some employees of the State Protection Department of Ukraine who refused Yanukovych's offer to leave Ukraine's territory with him and betray their military oath, according to Ivanov.

Another piece of evidence in the case was information from a telecommunications operator on the recording of numbers used by Yanukovych and his security details while moving around the territory of Ukraine and Russia within the area of coverage of the operators' base stations.

Yanukovych, 73, remains one of Ukraine's most controversial political figures. He was rejected by voters in the aftermath of the 2004 Orange Revolution, following the discovery of voter fraud in Yanukovych's favor. Nevertheless, he returned to win the presidency in 2010.

Yanukovych's presidency, widely seen as corrupt and authoritarian, drew Ukraine closer to Russia. In November 2013, his refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union triggered mass protests known as the EuroMaidan Revolution.

After the deaths of nearly 100 protesters at the hands of security forces in February 2014, Yanukovych fled Ukraine and sought refuge in Russia. Ukrainian prosecutors believe that the former president currently resides in the village of Barvikha in Moscow Oblast.