How Putin's Meeting Changed Ukraine's EU Integration Stance

2 min.3940

Inna Bogoslovskaya explained how the Party of Regions’ position on European integration changed after Yanukovych’s meeting with Putin in October 2013.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych engaged in discussion at a conference table, with national flags in the background.

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suffered a hypertensive crisis after a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in October 2013. Following this, chaos erupted within the Ukrainian government, and representatives of the Party of Regions began blocking European integration laws. Former MP Inna Bogoslovskaya recounted this incident, according to Glavkom .

According to the former MP, 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 Zorianoi Cinema in Vilnius, almost all officials, mayors, and businessmen present voted in favor of signing the Association Agreement with the European Union.

Only Elena Bondarenko spoke against, and Nestor Shufrich abstained.

What changed after the meeting with Putin?

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

Upon returning to Kyiv, Yanukovych suffered a hypertensive crisis for the first time in his years in high office, Bogoslovskaya claims.

Against this backdrop, chaos erupted within the then-government, and European integration laws began to be blocked 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.

(C)UNIAN 2026