The ambiguous results of Ukraine’s October 2012 parliamentary elections suggested that President Viktor Yanukovych might find it difficult to control Ukraine’s new legislature. Yanukovych has thus begun to rely on authoritarian methods involving direct pressure, falsifications, and legal manipulations to secure his reelection in 2015. At stake is the future of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a document initialed but not yet signed, now an instrument hostage to Yanukovych’s stratagems.
President Yanukovych’s Growing Authoritarianism: Does Ukraine Still Have European Prospects?
PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 265
by Olexiy Haran
July 2013
