{"id":118384,"date":"2026-07-28T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:21:19","slug":"investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, lives in Sochi under a different name, and his family has accumulated hundreds of hectares of land and dozens of real estate properties in Russia, according to an investigation conducted by &#8220;Toronto Television&#8221;.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Journalists claim that Yanukovych lives with his partner, Liubov Polejai, and uses documents issued under the name <strong>Oleg Leonov<\/strong>. This identity is said to have been used even during trips to Abkhazia. The investigation shows that the person with this name shares the same birth date as the former Ukrainian leader, and Yanukovych&#8217;s mother&#8217;s maiden name was Leonova.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the investigation, relatives of the former president have acquired hundreds of hectares of land, dozens of properties, and hold millions of dollars in bank accounts in Russia over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, the authors of the investigation assert that Yanukovych&#8217;s son, Oleksandr, along with his family, would reside in Russia under the name <strong>Sokolov<\/strong>, and Liubov Polejai would have changed her surname to <strong>S\u00e2dikova<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, lives in Sochi under a different name, and his family has accumulated hundreds of hectares of land and dozens of real estate properties in Russia, according to an investigation conducted by &#8220;Toronto Television&#8221;. Journalists claim that Yanukovych lives with his partner, Liubov Polejai, and uses documents issued under the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":118293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135],"tags":[18627,18628,1146,18626],"class_list":["post-118384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-foreign-affairs-en","tag-false-identity","tag-oleg-leonov","tag-rusia-en","tag-viktor-yanukovych"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, lives in Sochi under a different name, and his family has accumulated hundreds of hectares of land and dozens of real estate properties in Russia, according to an investigation conducted by &#8220;Toronto Television&#8221;. Journalists claim that Yanukovych lives with his partner, Liubov Polejai, and uses documents issued under the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DISINFO.MD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"765\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"disinfo1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"disinfo1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"disinfo1\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47cf4a814c750738424a97d2a36349f9\"},\"headline\":\"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":183,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ianukovici.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"#false identity\",\"#Oleg Leonov\",\"#Rusia\",\"#Viktor Yanukovych\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Foreign Affairs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/\",\"name\":\"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ianukovici.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ianukovici.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ianukovici.jpg\",\"width\":1360,\"height\":765},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Prima pagin\u0103\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/\",\"name\":\"DISINFO.MD monitorizeaz\u0103 propaganda, dezinformarea \u0219i \u0219tirile false din Republica Moldova\",\"description\":\"monitoriz\u0103m propaganda \u0219i dezinformarea Now\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DISINFO.MD\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png\",\"width\":499,\"height\":151,\"caption\":\"DISINFO.MD\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47cf4a814c750738424a97d2a36349f9\",\"name\":\"disinfo1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"disinfo1\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disinfo.md\\\/en\\\/author\\\/disinfo1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD","og_description":"The former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, lives in Sochi under a different name, and his family has accumulated hundreds of hectares of land and dozens of real estate properties in Russia, according to an investigation conducted by &#8220;Toronto Television&#8221;. Journalists claim that Yanukovych lives with his partner, Liubov Polejai, and uses documents issued under the","og_url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/","og_site_name":"DISINFO.MD","article_published_time":"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1360,"height":765,"url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"disinfo1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"disinfo1","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/"},"author":{"name":"disinfo1","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/person\/47cf4a814c750738424a97d2a36349f9"},"headline":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov","datePublished":"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/"},"wordCount":183,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg","keywords":["#false identity","#Oleg Leonov","#Rusia","#Viktor Yanukovych"],"articleSection":["Foreign Affairs"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/","name":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov - DISINFO.MD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-28T04:58:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-28T17:21:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ianukovici.jpg","width":1360,"height":765},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/investigation-viktor-yanukovych-lives-in-russia-under-a-false-identity-now-he-is-oleg-leonov\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Prima pagin\u0103","item":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Investigation: Viktor Yanukovych lives in Russia under a false identity. Now he is Oleg Leonov"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#website","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/","name":"DISINFO.MD monitorizeaz\u0103 propaganda, dezinformarea \u0219i \u0219tirile false din Republica Moldova","description":"monitoriz\u0103m propaganda \u0219i dezinformarea Now","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#organization","name":"DISINFO.MD","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/logo-disinfo-new-alb-2.png","width":499,"height":151,"caption":"DISINFO.MD"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/#\/schema\/person\/47cf4a814c750738424a97d2a36349f9","name":"disinfo1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7548aeed5e7b0a7c6301343694a9bd57b8794873022af285d1a0b809c4ff8c33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"disinfo1"},"url":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/author\/disinfo1\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118385,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118384\/revisions\/118385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}