Tag: Tymoshenko

The EU-Ukraine summit scheduled for 25 February may mark a low point in the relations between Brussels and Kyiv, with diplomats warning that it would be “impossible” to move forward without solving the case of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now accused of commissioning a murder.

Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, has poured cold water over Ukraine’s ambition to hold a summit with the Union and sign an Association Agreement.

The Ukrainian authorities bring to mind Napoleon's words about a person who fell asleep in a chair standing at the edge of a cliff. Unless the authorities understand the scale of the protest sentiments, they will be hit by a second wave of a tsunami, says Vadym Omelchenko.

Ahead of the parliamentary election in Ukraine to be held on Sunday (28 October), EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and US State Secretary Hillary Clinton said that the West will be closely watching that the poll is up to the “high standard” of the presidential election held two years ago.

The Western-style liberal party of heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko has surged in popularity to second place behind President Viktor Yanukovich's party ahead of Ukraine's 28 October parliamentary election, a new survey shows.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich hit back at the EU over jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko today (24 August), saying he would not pursue integration at the price of allowing Brussels to interfere in her case. He also said Ukraine might develop closer economic ties with Russia since it is the biggest market for the country.

A Ukrainian court today (17 August) sentenced Yuri Lutsenko, an ally former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to two years in prison. It marks the latest conviction in what opposition forces decry as political repression and the EU calls "selective justice."

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to lower the price of gas for Ukraine yesterday (12 July) during his first visit to the former Soviet republic since returning to the Kremlin in May, a meeting which Kyiv had hoped would resolve the energy stalemate.

Russia insists on sticking to its current gas supply agreement with Ukraine despite repeated calls from Kyiv to renegotiate the deal, the head of Russia’s Gazprom says.

Mykola Azarov, Ukraine Prime Minister, welcomed on Thursday (7 June) the appointment of two senior European politicians as observers to the appeal proceedings involving Yulia Tymoshenko, the ex-Prime Minister who is serving a seven-year prison sentence.

All the major political parties in the European Parliament united yesterday (24 May) to back a resolution putting pressure on Ukraine to free the jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said his country was “taken hostage” over the case of his imprisoned predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko, which he said was overblown because of a “foreign plot” to prevent the country from getting closer to the EU.

The Ukrainian prosecution will press murder charges against the country’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in two weeks time, Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin, who is responsible for her case, announced yesterday (9 May). 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel could cancel her visit to Ukraine during the Euro 2012 football tournament in June if jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not released by then, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported yesterday (29 April). 

A new trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - already serving a seven-year prison term on abuse-of-office charges - opened today (19 April) with the defendant refusing to attend on grounds of poor health.

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko will receive treatment for her back problems in a hospital outside the Kharkiv prison where she is presently detained, the country's authorities announced yesterday (2 April).

Ukraine initialled today (30 March) a landmark Association Agreement with the EU and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Although this is only a technical step before the official signature, the Commission said the move was important for "keeping the momentum" in relations with Kyiv.

Poland and Ukraine have completed preparations to co-host the Euro 2012 European Football Championship, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Azarov.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko may have been maltreated in prison, MEP Zuzana Roithová, a physician and former hospital director, said yesterday (22 February) after visiting the imprisoned opposition figure.

EU and Ukrainian leaders meeting in Kyiv yesterday (19 December) failed to initial the country's Association Agreement with the Union, largely due to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that Brussels sees as "politically motivated".

An EU-Ukraine "association agreement" should be initiated without delay, and preferably before the end of this year, the European Parliament said in a surprisingly gentle resolution voted yesterday (1 December). EU governments should give the agreement a green light at the next EU summit of 8-9 December, it adds. 

A senior Ukrainian prosecutor in charge of the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko left little doubt that an appeal will uphold her prison sentence for abuse of office and said further charges, including that of commissioning a murder, would be pressed against her.

The Council of Europe's Venice Commission, specialised in providing constitutional advice in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe, regrets that Ukraine's authorities neglect its opinions and push  their own agenda, Thomas Markert, commission's director, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

In a rare show of unity in the European Parliament, political groups across party lines deplored the conviction of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as a violation of human rights and an abuse of the judiciary designed to silence Ukraine's leading opposition figure.