Lukash Olena Leonidivna

Legal Stronghold of the Party of Regions

In November-December 2004, during the Orange Revolution, Lukash represented Yanukovych’s interests before the Supreme Court in a case against the Central Election Commission. Twice — in 2006 and 2007 — she was elected as a People's Deputy from the Party of Regions lists. In 2010, after Yanukovych was elected president, she became the First Deputy Head of his Administration — the president’s representative in the Constitutional Court.

Euromaidan: Support for Forceful Dispersal

Lukash supported harsh measures against protesters. On February 19, 2014, already acting minister, she stated that the president called to “immediately stop the armed confrontation, lay down arms and surrender to law enforcement those who today violated the law and provoke civil confrontations” — at the peak of the shootings on Maidan.

EU Sanctions, Search and Detention

At the end of February 2014, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein froze the accounts of Lukash and two dozen close associates of Yanukovych on suspicion of involvement in human rights violations, corruption, and money laundering. On September 10, 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced Lukash wanted on suspicion of embezzling state funds through an organized fictitious tender for the adaptation of legislation to the EU amounting to over 2.5 million hryvnias. On November 5, 2015, Lukash was detained at her family estate in Kyiv. Bail of 5.1 million hryvnias was paid for her by MP Vadim Novinsky, but the SBU refused to comply with the court decision to release her.

Eventually, Lukash fled Ukraine and is hiding in the Russian Federation.