KYIV, Jan 24 - A Ukrainian court on Thursday sentenced former president Viktor Yanukovych in absentia to 13 years in jail on treason charges, a judge said, saying his conduct in office had opened the door to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and conflict in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014 following street protests against his rule. His successor, Petro Poroshenko, has adopted a pro-Western foreign policy, reversing Yanukovych’s tilt towards Moscow.

“With his deliberate illegal actions, Yanukovych committed a crime against the foundations of the national sovereignty
of Ukraine, namely state treason”, judge Vladyslav Deviatko said.

The judge said Yanukovych sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2014, asking him to use Russian army and police forces to restore order in Ukraine.

“With his deliberate actions, Yanukovych committed a crime against peace, namely aiding in the conduct of an aggressive war,” judge Deviatko said.

Just days earlier, Russian troops without insignia on their uniforms had seized state buildings in Crimea and within weeks similar “little green men” would do the same in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine that borders Russia.

Crimea remains under Russian control and the continuing war between Moscow-led militia and Ukrainian troops in the industrial Donbas area has killed more than 10,300 people, displaced 1.6 million and ravaged Ukraine’s economy.

Yanukovych left Ukraine after three months of protests during which more than 100 demonstrators were killed in clashes in the Ukrainian capital.

Yanukovych has previously denied the allegations made by prosecutors and blamed armed nationalist radicals for fomenting violence in the 2014 Maidan protests that prompted him to flee.

Yanukovych’s lawyers said they would appeal the judgment.

The issue of preserving the pro-European vector of development will be one of the key debates in the upcoming presidential elections in which the current president Poroshenko and former associates of Yanukovych will most likely take part. (rt/ez)