Viktor Yanukovych the armed forces of Ukraine not to intervene in the crisis. The exact whereabouts of Yanukovych when he made this statement remains unclear. He later thanked Vladimir Putin for "saving his life". According to an April 2014 poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre, only 4.9% of respondents would have liked to see Yanukovych return to the presidency. On 3 October 2014, several news agencies reported that according to a Facebook post made by the aide to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Anton Gerashchenko, Viktor Yanukovych had been granted Russian citizenship by a "secret decree" of Vladimir Putin. On the same day,
Viktor Yanukovych Yanukovych first ran for president in 2004: he advanced to the runoff election, and initially defeated his opponent. However, the election was fraught with allegations of fraud and voter intimidation. This caused widespread citizen protests and Kyiv's Independence Square was occupied in what became known as the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the runoff election, and ordered a second runoff. Yanukovych lost this second election to Viktor Yushchenko. He served as Prime Minister for a second time from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007, under President Yushchenko. Yanukovych was elected President in 2010, defeating Yulia Tymoshenko. The