Viktor Yanukovych second round of the 2010 presidential election as a choice between "bad and very bad" and praised (the candidate eliminated in the first round of the election) Arseniy Yatsenyuk instead. In another January 2009 cable (then) Ambassador of Ukraine to Russia Kostyantyn Gryshchenko stated that Putin had a low personal regard for Yanukovych. In another Wikileaks diplomatic cable, Volodymyr Horbulin, one of Ukraine's most respected policy strategists and former presidential advisor to then-President Viktor Yushchenko, told the United States Ambassador to Ukraine John E. Herbst in 2006 that Yanukovych's Party of Regions was partly composed of "pure criminals" and "criminal
Oleksandr Yanukovych contracts than any other businessmen since the beginning of 2012. Forbes.ua reported in February 2014 that in January 2014, for example, his businesses won 50% of all state tenders. In early 2014, his personal assets were claimed to be over $500 million. The Ukrainian Bank of Development was founded in 1995 and controlled by Valentyna Arbuzova. Reports allege that since 2011, Yanukovych purchased stock in the bank to achieve 100% ownership. In 2014, investigations by anti-corruption organizations into the bank and potential bribery charges against Yanukovych were launched. These included an order to freeze Swiss assets of both Yanukovych and