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Will Putin declare ex-President Viktor Yanukovych as new head of Ukraine, replacing Zelenskyy?

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's then presesident, Viktor Yanukovich (L), . REUTERS/Wang Zhao/Pool/File Photo (REUTERS)

Exiled former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych could be declared the next president of Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent tweeted , citing a report by the Ukrayinska Pravda, an online newspaper, that the former president was being prepared by the Kremlin for a special occasion. 

Read the tweet here

Viktor Yanukovych had fled to Russia in 2014 after his government was overthrown following the Maidan Revolution. 

Russia has intensified their attack on Ukraine as they plan to change the map of Europe in the process of a war that could potentially destroy the global security arrangements following the Cold War. 

The report cited Ukrainian Intelligence and said that Russia could try to declare Viktor Yanukovych as the ‘President of Ukraine’. This could just be Kremlin's way of setting up a puppet government in Ukraine, as they try to take Kyiv and overthrow the Volodymyr Zelenskyy government.  The report also mentioned that Russia could be preparing an informational operation or action for the Yanukovych's return to Ukraine

Viktor Yanukovych, the next president of Ukraine?

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010. His government was overthrown after a chain of violent clashes between protesters, riot police and shooters in Kyiv. 

Known as the Maidan Revolution, the Revolution of Dignity took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests.

The protests began in November 2013 with a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's refusal to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) at a meeting of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius in Lithuania.

The protests continued which eventually led to his ouster from office. Following this he fled to Russia and has since been under the Kremlin's protection. His proximity with the Kremlina nd the fact that he was the democratically elected President of Ukraine for a few years, makes him the most suitable puppet declared for Russia, as the latter attempts to redraw the map of Europe and revive Moscow's Cold War-era influence.

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