From being elected president of Ukraine in 2010 to being removed from office by Parliament and charged with mass murder over the past week, President Viktor F. Yanukovych has been at the center of the Ukrainian crisis since the beginning. The president has fled the capital to the more friendly eastern territories. President Putin has supported Yanukovych by sending him over 15 billion dollars in aid, for exchange Yanukovych has allowed a Russian fleet to harbor at the Ukrainian port in Salrasterpol.

Who is president Yanukovych, and why has he fled?