Viktor Yanukovych influential of whom has become President Yanukovych's own son Oleksandr Yanukovych. The exact distribution of wealth and precise weight of influence are difficult to gauge, but most of the country's richest men were afraid to cross the Yanukovich family, even in cases where their own economic interests favored an economically pro-EU Ukraine. Young "robber capitalis[ts] have been buying up both public and private businesses at "rock bottom" prices available in the stagnating economic conditions brought on by Yanukovych's economic policies." According to Åslund, one notable exception to the Yanukovych family's influence was Petro Poroshenko, who is described as "uncommonly courageous",
2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots Automaidan activists by 3 a.m. blocked all roads exiting Yanukovych's Mezhyhyria mansion. In the early morning, protesters in central Kiev continued supplying molotov cocktails and advanced on police cordons while fortifying barricades to their rear as police continuously used water cannons, fired rubber bullets, and jammed cell phone signals. By the evening, Vitali Klitschko had arranged a night-time meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych at his presidential mansion "Mezhyhirya" in an attempt to argue for snap elections in order to defuse the situation from escalating into further violence. The meeting ended with Yanukovych promising to resolve the crisis with a 'special