his party on a federalization-platform that should have eventually led to a "parliamentary system without the institution of the presidency at all". But he withdrew from the race on 16 May. He stated he withdrew "to save Ukraine from arbitrariness, which takes place today" and said about the elections itself "in our opinion they will be illegitimate". Later the same day, Symonenko's car was attacked by a mob with baseball bats and Molotov cocktails as he left a TV interview. He was uninjured in the incident. In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election he received 1.51% of the vote. The Central Election Commission of Ukraine did not register his candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election due to the fact that the statute, name and symbolism of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not comply with 2015 decommunization laws. In late May 2021, TV channel 112 Ukraine received a fine of ₴100,000 for broadcasting Symonenko's claim that the War in Donbas was a "civil war" initiated by "Ukrainian nationalists and neo-fascists supported by the United States." During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has (as reports Obozrevatel) taken a pro-Russian stance. In March 2022 Symonenko managed to escape from Kyiv to Belarus during the Kyiv offensive with the assistance of Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian internet newspaper Obozrevatel. Political Positions On 28 November 2006, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) narrowly passed a law defining the Holodomor as a deliberate act of genocide and made public denial illegal. Commenting in 2007, Symonenko said he "does not believe there was any deliberate starvation at all," and accused President Viktor Yushchenko of "using the famine to stir up hatred." In response, Yushchenko declared he wants "a new law criminalising Holodomor denial." In May 2012, Symonenko defended the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, saying that this measure saved Crimean Tatars, because otherwise a civil war would have started. Notes References 1952 births Living people Politicians from Donetsk Communist Party of Ukraine politicians Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) politicians Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Third convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fourth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fifth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Sixth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Candidates in the 1999 Ukrainian presidential election Candidates in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election Candidates in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election Candidates