and that he wanted to return to the presidency. On 22 January 2010, as outgoing President of Ukraine, Yushchenko officially rehabilitated one of Ukraine's most controversial figures from the era of World War II, the ultranationalist leader Stepan Bandera, awarding him the title of Hero of Ukraine. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists even set up multinational assemblies of the occupied peoples of the Soviet Union in which more than 12 Soviet republics were represented, such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Russia and others. Yushchenko's decision immediately caused an uproar and was condemned by the European Parliament and Russian, Polish, and Jewish organizations and was declared illegal by the following Ukrainian government and a court decision in April 2010. In January 2011, the award was officially annulled. In the second round of Ukraine's presidential election, Yushchenko did not support either of the candidates, Victor Yanukovych or Yulia Tymoshenko. Yushchenko attributed his low popularity ratings to his adherence to his principles. "Ukraine is a European democratic country", Yushchenko said at the polling station. "It is a free nation and free people." In the following days, he said that "Ukraine doesn’t have a decent choice" for his replacement. "Both candidates are alienated from national, European, and democratic values. I don’t see a principal difference between them." However, his low approval ratings may also be attributable to his tacit support for his former adversary Yanukovych between rounds one and two. Yushchenko removed the Kharkiv and Dniproptrovsk governors, who had expressed support for Tymoshenko and had refused to provide administrative resources for Yanukovych's campaign. Yushchenko didn't attend the inauguration ceremony of President Yanukovych. On 10 March 2010, Yushchenko indicated his future plans would largely depend on Yanukovych's performance. A day earlier, Yushchenko's former ally turned rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, took up the mantle as leader of the democratic opposition. But Yushchenko warned that her leadership would end in disaster, noting, "[e]very political force that united with Tymoshenko ended badly." On 31 May 2010 Yushchenko stated that Yulia Tymoshenko was his "worst mistake": "The most serious mistake was to give power to her twice". Later career including 2012 parliamentary elections On 18 April 2010, Yushchenko and his wife (along with President Yanukovych and former Prime Minister Tymoshenko) journeyed to Poland to attend the state funeral of President Lech Kaczyński in Kraków. Due to the widespread air disruptions in Europe due to the eruptions in Iceland, the Yushchenkos journeyed