During Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federal Security Service prepared two puppet governments — led by fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych for Kyiv and his former allies for southeastern Ukraine.
This is stated in the material of The Washington Post.
Ukrainian intelligence told the publication that the Russians planned to first capture Kyiv and install a puppet government there. This would cause a domino effect, and the Russians would begin to increase their presence in the regions.
For the occupation, the Russians prepared at least two options for puppet governments. In Ukraine, it is believed that in this way Putin wanted to have several options.
One group headed by Yanukovych was in Belarus. He arrived there on March 7. After that, Yanukovych wrote an open letter to Zelensky, in which he called on him to stop the war, surrender and sign peace agreements. Ukrainian intelligence assures that during the week the head of Yanukovychʼs security spoke at least three times with a senior FSB officer who dealt with Ukraine.
Yanukovych himself did not respond to journalistsʼ inquiries, and his ally, ex-prime minister Azarov, called statements about plans to return Yanukovych to power in Ukraine "nonsense."
The second group was prepared by the Russians for the occupied territories of southeastern Ukraine. Former associates of Yanukovych were included in it, among whom was ex-Deputy Oleg Tsarev. In a comment to journalists, Tsarev said that in the first weeks of the war, he was even near Kyiv with "friends", whom he refused to name. At the same time, he denied that he had any agreements on the eve of the invasion.
- On December 16, 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence of fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych for treason. The court upheld the decision of the Kyiv Court of Appeal. He confirmed the decision of the capitalʼs Obolon District Court, which in January 2019 sentenced Yanukovych to 13 years in prison.
- On November 5, the State Bureau of Investigation informed Viktor Yanukovych, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison, of a new suspicion of being the head of an organized criminal group.
- A number of other proceedings have been opened against the ex-president. It is about the usurpation of power, treason in the case of the "Kharkiv Agreements", taking possession of the Mezhihirya tract, a complex of buildings in Puscha-Vodytsa and a forestry farm in the village of Sukholuchcha, falsifying the results of voting for "dictatorship" laws, receiving bribes from the printing house "Novy Svit" and about orders law enforcement officers to disperse the participants of the Revolution of Dignity.