Yanukovych Survived One Revolution But Not Two
Updated: 11:00pm UK, Monday 24 February 2014
Former President Viktor Yanukovych built a reputation as a political street fighter throughout his career.
While he may have survived one revolution, the second has dealt him the final blow.
Mr Yanukovych's dramatic ousting is in many ways a fitting end to a career littered with controversy.
Long plagued by allegations of corruption and a love of luxury, the former president was said to have mastered the art of political survival.
Mr Yanukovych was first deposed after winning a presidential vote in 2004, only to be re-elected six years later.
His rise to power was equally meteoric.
Hailing from Ukraine's industrial Donetsk region, Mr Yanukovych has previously said his childhood was mired by poverty.
Orphaned at the age of two and raised by his grandmother, he has recalled running around the streets barefooted.
He fell in with a local street gang in the late 1960s and was convicted of robbery in 1967 and assault in 1970. He served prison sentences for both crimes, although his criminal record has since been inexplicably cleared.
The former leader cut his teeth in politics in his native Donetsk in the 1990s. He served as governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 until 2002, when he was appointed prime minister.
His first run at the presidency was in 2004.
He "won" the election, only to be promptly deposed following mass protests, which bore startling similarities to those which would follow 10 years later.
Allegations of fraud and voter intimidation in the second-round ballot promoted the occupation of Kiev's Independence Square, or Maidan, where protesters have returned recent months.
The movement, known as the Orange Revolution, forced the Ukrainian Supreme Court to order a re-run of the vote.
Mr Yanukovych lost to his Western-backed opponent Viktor Yushchenko, but managed to retain leadership of his Party of the Regions.
He was not out of favour for long, and was again appointed prime minister in 2006.
Four years later, his campaign for Ukraine's top job proved more successful and he defeated Orange Revolution leader and long-time opponent Yulia Tymoshenko by 3.48% of the vote.
Shortly afterwards Ms Tymoshenko was imprisoned for abuse of power; a move which many suggest was orchestrated by Mr Yanukovych.
The Tymoshenko case and successive allegations of corruption earned him considerable criticism from opponents and western leaders during his time in office.
But it was his decision to pull out of a long-awaited free trade deal with the European Union which sparked the mass protests which led to his downfall.
The former president is now in hiding, with an arrest warrant out against him.
He stands accused of "mass murder" over the death of dozens of protesters.
Nevertheless, in a move typical of his political career, Mr Yanukovych is yet to formally admit defeat, denouncing the revolution against him as a political "coup".
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