Vitaly Portnikov in his column on the Grani. ru said that led to the flight of former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014:.
"Four years ago, Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia. Now the circumstances of his disappearance from Kiev, and then from the Ukrainian territory, are considered in court on charges of high treason, testimony is given by former and current politicians, including the current president of Ukraine. But without the main participants in the process - Yanukovych himself and Vladimir Putin - the court will still not be able to answer the most important question: why did he run?.
Of course, after four years, Yanukovych may seem weak, helpless and completely lost support of the population and law enforcement agencies. Four years ago it did not seem so. Yes, after the shooting of protesters on the Maidan - the legendary "Heavenly Hundred" - the oppositionists were bitter, many did not accept the agreement reached on international mediation on early presidential elections and demanded the immediate resignation of Yanukovych. But the forces for a real assault of the presidential residence at the Maidan was not even then. If the siloviki wanted, they would be able to defend Mezhyhiria in case of an attempt of such an assault. But they did not want to, they did not even try. They just took and left - although there was no assault. Why did they leave?.
Well, suppose that both Yanukovich and, most importantly, his guards understood how after the murder of people Kiev was set up, and could not count the stay in the capital-and the protection of the one whom the Kievites hate so-is a safe business. But in the east of the country the mood was very different. The Maidan was not perceived at all as a national protest movement, the local maidans were few, their members were beaten and killed. But it was from the inhabitants of the eastern regions that Anti-Maidan formed. Yanukovych went not somewhere, but in Kharkov - the fortress of Antimaydan. The head of the regional administration Mikhail Dobkin and the mayor of Kharkov Gennady Kernes were considered the main recruiters of "titles" for confrontation with the Maidanovites. A regional congress in support of the president was prepared in Kharkiv. But before Yanukovych arrived in Kharkov, Dobkin and Kernes went to Russia, and when they returned, they virtually refused to support the president and turned down the congress. Why did they betray him?.
Then Yanukovych went not to somewhere, but to his homeland, to Donetsk - but he did not find support from local elites, who were always closely following the wave of the hands of Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in the country. Akhmetov talked with Yanukovych, but rather indifferently. Yanukovych also runs from Donetsk. Now he has only Crimea - and Russia.
To say that Yanukovych had nowhere to go but simply because there was already another power in Kiev and could be detained at any time means to overestimate the possibilities of this new government. Whenever it becomes possible, the siloviki in the Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk will cease to obey it and will side with no known "militiamen" and saboteurs from Russia. Why did they not defend their president, and some kind of already almost forgotten Bolotov or Aksenov were ready to defend?.
Because there was no order. Because the order had to come not from Kiev, but from Moscow. And in Moscow were only interested in one thing - "smoke" Yanukovych from Ukraine, get "legitimate" as a hostage. For this, tensions have been fueled in the last days of the Maidan, all plans to support Yanukovych in the east. Yanukovych had to get into the cage - and the cell slammed shut.
What for? Surely we will learn about this only after years, when we get access to the archives of the abolished FSB. But in general, the logic is clear: only with a completely obedient president deprived of any internal support could it be possible to dismember Ukraine, create a puppet regime in the east and with it help to restore influence over the rest of the territory. Eventually, Yanukovych, who turned out in Russia, already began to act: he signed the idea of ??appointing a new head of the Crimean government, which allowed him to "legitimize" Aksyonov, prepare the annexation of the peninsula and ask for Russian troops. Not Kernes, not Dobkin, not Akhmetov should return his power to Yanukovych - and Russian invaders, counting on flowers and marches. That's why Moscow did not allow to act even to those who were with her at the same time - and saved them. Yanukovych is remembered only when there is a court. And Kernes is still the mayor, Dobkin is creating a new party, Akhmetov is still richer than the rest.
Return Yanukovych failed only because the Russian government underestimated the readiness of Ukrainians to defend their state - half-destroyed, inefficient, but still able to rely on popular enthusiasm. This is the enthusiasm that neither Yanukovych, nor Putin, nor anyone else who lives for the sake of extra billion, a luxurious residence or the possibility of self-assertion in power can not understand, and then saved Ukraine. Such carefully planned escape turned into a farce, and the expression "legitimate" began to resemble a criminal nickname, rather than a prefix to the post. Yanukovych is over.
The war began ".