Ukraine’s former pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych seemingly resurfaced publicly for the first time in years on Sept. 1, claiming that he had always backed Ukraine’s path toward the European Union.
The statement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China while also peddling false narratives, including the claim that the EuroMaidan Revolution was a Western-backed “coup.”
Experts say that Yanukovych’s sudden appearance, designed to reinforce Russia’s anti-Western and anti-EuroMaidan talking points, reveals that the Kremlin has no understanding of Ukraine and its society.
“Indeed, I worked purposefully to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union, ultimately setting the goal of EU accession,” Yanukovych is heard saying in the video broadcast by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
“Another matter is that our EU partners sometimes behaved, to put it mildly, inappropriately during the negotiations. They failed to understand the complexity of Ukraine’s economic situation. To put it bluntly, they were arrogant.”
The comments contradict Yanukovych’s actions in 2014, when he fled Ukraine amid the EuroMaidan protests, also known as the Revolution of Dignity, which were triggered by his government’s decision to not sign an Association Agreement with the EU.
Yanukovych also called Ukraine’s potential NATO membership a “disaster,” echoing a key Kremlin narrative that blames Kyiv’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions for triggering Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“I have always been a categorical and staunch opponent of Ukraine’s accession to NATO. I have always clearly understood that this would be a disaster for Ukraine — a road to nowhere, a direct path to civil war,” he said.
In a rare media appearance, ousted ex-president Yanukovych addressed Russian journalists, echoing Kremlin narratives. He claimed his goal was EU membership but opposed NATO, accused European partners of acting “improperly,” and backed Putin’s claim that Western attempts to pull… pic.twitter.com/3xjhfyLkdQ
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) September 1, 2025
The date and location of the recording were impossible to establish, and the Russian propaganda often employs false or manipulated footage.
To verify whether the video was authentic or AI-generated, the Kyiv Independent used Forensically tool that analyzes “noise contrast,” which looks at the tiny, random variations in each frame, like the natural grain or texture found in real footage.
In AI-generated videos, these random patterns tend to be overly smooth or uniform. In this case, the analysis showed normal, uneven noise patterns throughout the video.
Hive Moderation, an AI-based content moderation tool, also indicated that the video was unlikely to be AI-generated.
“I don’t think it’s a fake, because (showing) the real Yanukovych is cheaper than producing a fake video,” Yevhen Mahda, a Ukrainian political expert who specializes in Russian hybrid warfare, told the Kyiv Independent.
Yanukovych, 75, remains one of Ukraine’s most controversial political figures. He was rejected by the voters in the aftermath of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a rigged election in his favor. Nevertheless, he returned to win the presidency in 2010.
Yanukovych’s presidency, widely seen as corrupt and authoritarian, drew Ukraine closer to Russia.
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After the deaths of nearly 100 protesters at the hands of security forces in February 2014, Yanukovych fled Ukraine and sought refuge in Russia. Ukrainian prosecutors believe that the former president currently resides in the village of Barvikha in Moscow Oblast.
“There is only one explanation for Viktor Yanukovych’s public appearance: the Kremlin does not understand that his statements mean nothing to Ukrainians,” Mahda said. “He has no influence on politics in Ukraine, but Russia fails to grasp this.”
The media reported in 2022 that the Kremlin had considered reinstalling Yanukovych in a leadership role if Russian forces had successfully seized Kyiv at the start of its full-scale invasion.
Political analyst Ihor Reiterovych says that the video proves that “Russia continues to live in the paradigm of 2014,” hence the reused narratives and “absurd statements about a coup, the ‘bad West,’ and the ‘legitimate Yanukovych.'”
“Since Putin repeated all this at the SCO summit, the topic had to be developed and reinforced somehow,” the analyst added.
According to the expert, Moscow’s belief that Yanukovych could influence anyone in Ukraine “as a reminder of supposedly ‘stable times'” demonstrates that it “has never really understood Ukraine, and still doesn’t.”
In January 2019, Yanukovych was convicted in absentia of high treason and complicity in waging an aggressive war. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In April 2025, he received another sentence in absentia — 15 years in prison — for organizing the illegal transfer of individuals across Ukraine’s border and inciting desertion.
Viktor Yanukovych: Ukraine’s scandal-ridden ex-president
The pro-Russian ex-president was stripped of the title of President of Ukraine in 2015.
