"Yanukovych Has Been Hospitalized With A Hypertensive Crisis"

• 12.10.2026, 9:37

Details have emerged about a key meeting between Putin and the former president of Ukraine.

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suffered a hypertensive crisis after meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in October 2013. After that, chaos ensued within the Ukrainian government, and representatives of the Party of Regions began blocking laws on European integration. Former People’s Deputy Inna Bogoslovskaya recounted this incident, according to “Glavkom”.

According to the former lawmaker, in September 2013, the Party of Regions faction and the party elite almost unanimously supported Ukraine’s European course. In particular, on September 4, during a meeting at the “Zoryany” movie theater, virtually all officials, mayors, and businesspeople present voted in favor of signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in Vilnius. Only Olena Bondarenko voted against it, while Nestor Shufrich abstained.

According to Bogoslovskaya, the situation changed dramatically after Yanukovych’s trip to meet with Putin in October 2013. The former lawmaker stated that during the meeting, the Russian leader intimidated the then-Ukrainian president.

Upon his return to Kyiv, Yanukovych suffered a hypertensive crisis for the first time in his years in high office, Bogoslovskaya claims. Against this backdrop, chaos ensued within the ruling administration, and laws on European integration began to be blocked from within the Party of Regions itself. These events preceded the Ukrainian authorities’ refusal to sign the Association Agreement with the EU at the Vilnius summit in the fall of 2013.