Victor Yanukovych: Embarking upon a Career in Politics

Abstract

The article presents an analytical overview of publications highlighting the fourth President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych’s life track. By combining the existing research with the newly found sources, we attempt at reconstructing the initial phase of Yanukovych’s biography as a politician. Based on open sources and available evidence, we critically rethink the well-established concepts of the nature of the 1970s criminal indictment against Yanukovych resulting in his conviction and imprisonment, with specific attention paid to the subsequent conviction expungement process. The paper also links Yanukovych’s late Soviet criminal experience to his rapid political ascent. We suggest that the reason behind Yanukovich’s rush into regional political elite was his undercover work for security agencies. It is stated that Yanukovych’s transfer to the high politics was determined by bargains between the President L. Kuchma and the Donetsk financial industrial group’s representatives. Specifically, we aim to demonstrate that, while lobbying Yanukovych for the Prime-Minister of Ukraine, the Donetsk financial industrial group representatives still lacked control over his cabinet consisting mainly of the President L. Kuchma’s loyalists. The research hypothesis of Yanukovych’s role as a head of the Cabinet of Ministers limited to that of a client serving his patrons and getting ready for the Presidential Elections is backed by a thorough analysis of Yanukovych Cabinet’s structure, HR policies and allocation of authority procedures.