Mykola Yanovych Azarov (Ukrainian: Микола Янович Азаров; Russian: Николай Янович Азаров, romanized: Nikolay Yanovich Azarov; né Pakhlo, Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014.

[1][2] In January 2014, after weeks of Euromaidan protests and the 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots,[nb 1] Azarov offered his letter of resignation.

On 19 January 2015 Kyiv District Court of Pechersk Raion issued an arrest warrant as a preventive measure to allow for the extradition of Azarov from the Russian Federation.

[7] Azarov is currently the subject of international sanctions from the U.S., European Union, Norway, Canada, and Switzerland due to his role in the Euromaidan.

[10] Azarov moved to Donetsk permanently in 1984 to become deputy director of the Ukrainian State Geological Institute, that he went on to head.

[citation needed] In 1994 Azarov was elected member of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) for the first time, representing the Petroskiy electoral district, located in the city of Donetsk.

[citation needed] In parliament, he belonged to an inter-regional group of MPs supporting then-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma.

[citation needed] In 1995, while carrying on as an MP, Azarov was appointed an adviser to the currency council of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

[13][18] Critics also stated that the recordings implicated Azarov in other corrupt schemes, including allegedly covering up graft at the state natural gas company Naftogaz,[13] aiding the demise of the Slaviansk Bank (which was connected to Yulia Tymoshenko's natural gas company United Energy Systems of Ukraine)[13] and illegal funding of Kuchma's 1999 election campaign.

[citation needed] Still, he declined, standing aside for Viktor Yanukovych, who assumed both the leadership of the Party of Regions and the Prime Minister's job.

[25][27] Azarov remained a strong political ally of Yanukovych, and again became a member of parliament for the Party of Regions after the 2006 Parliamentary elections.

[36] On 5 December President Yanukovych stated "Azarov has good chances of remaining prime minister, (but) a lot will depend on whom he brings to his team".

[41] Yevhen Murayev told Dmitry Gordon that he took the fleeing Azarov out of Ukraine from Kharkiv to Belgorod during the events of Maidan.

[47] As of 12 January 2015, Azarov has had an Interpol Red Notice issued,[49] along with ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and former Minister of Finance Yuriy Kolobov,[50] on charges of 'Misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by malversation, if committed in respect of an especially gross amount, or by an organized group.

[52][53] Azarov's son, Oleksiy, was a constituency candidate in Sloviansk for the Party of Regions during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.

[34][55] In April 2014, Austrian authorities began an investigation of Oleksiy Azarov, among several other Ukrainians close to the former government, on money-laundering suspicions.

[64] After criticism from female politicians at home and abroad, Azarov explained that he meant he would not wish any woman, especially if she has children, to work more than 15 hours a day as a Ukrainian minister does.