Interpol has removed Ukraine’s ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, his son Oleksandr, and some high-level former officials from the agency’s wanted list.
The move followed three years of lukewarm attempts by Kyiv to bring them to justice for crimes allegedly committed during Yanukovych’s tenure from February 2010 until his removal from power in February 2014.
On May 3, Yanukovych’s spokesman Yuriy Kirasir said Interpol revoked the former leader from the so-called Red Notice database, which means that the agency has ceased to search for him.
Yanukovych fled the country to Russia in late February 2014 after around 100 protesters and 20 law enforcers were shot dead in Kyiv after weeks of unrest in the city centre. The ex-president, whose circle is widely blamed for the wholesale looting of Ukraine’s during his rule, is currently sought by justice authorities in his homeland for a range of crimes including treason.
So far Ukrainian prosecutors showed scant progress in bringing charges against any high-level official of the former regime. Some Kyiv-based anti-corruption experts attribute this situation to incompetence of the country's unreformed law enforcement agencies, specifically, the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as the judiciary.
“Interpol has therefore confirmed the fact that criminal cases against [Viktor] Yanukovych are politically motivated,” Kirasir added.