EU member states have imposed sanctions on the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and his son for their alleged role in threatening Ukraine's security.

A European Council statement on August 4 said the two were added to an existing EU sanctions list “for their role in undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and the state’s stability and security.”

The council said it was taking the action in response to “the ongoing unjustified and unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine."

Yanukovych was president of Ukraine for four years until his ouster in February 2014 in a popular uprising against his government's turn away from the West and toward Moscow.

Russia responded to the defeat of its ally by seizing Ukrainian territory on the Crimean Peninsula and in the eastern Donbas region. Moscow launched its current full-scale invasion in February.

The EU argues that Yanukovych, 72, still plays a "role in undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and the state's stability and security."

The sanctions document published in the EU's Official Journal accused Yanukovych, 72, of plotting to return to power in Ukraine if the Russian invasion succeeds in toppling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Yanukovych was part of a Russian special operation aimed at replacing the Ukrainian president during the first phases of the invasion, the journal said, citing “different sources.”

The sanctions against Yanukovych’s son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, were for the same reasons and for “conducting transactions with the separatist groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine.”

As sanctioned individuals, the father and son are subject to an EU visa ban and a freeze on any assets they hold inside the bloc, RFE/RL reports.