Moscow - The Tuesday conviction of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is a political decision blocking Ukraine's associated membership of the EU and opening the way to Kyiv's integration with the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union, says Viktor Mironenko, the head of the Center of Ukrainian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Europe.
"I am sure that the parliaments of at least a dozen EU member-states will block the association agreement after what happened in Ukraine today. And since the chance for integration into the West is blocked, Kyiv is likely to take the chance to integrate into the East," Mironenko told Interfax on Tuesday.
He said his conclusions are based on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s reasons in favor of Ukraine’s possible integration with the Customs Union members.
"Vladimir Vladimirovich’s [Putin’s] remarks in Izvestia and at the Russia Calling forum on [October] 4 are radically different from the tonality of all of his previous remarks. It looks like we are witnessing not some whimsical and impulsive decisions or even revenge, but quite well thought-out political tactics of the incumbent Ukrainian administration," Mironenko said.
On the whole, Tymoshenko’s trial was politically motivated, and its outcome was predictable, Mironenko said. "Undoubtedly, this very ruling had to be expected. There can be no doubts that the proceedings were political. Surely, one of the goals was to remove a strong political competitor, and Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] is a strong political fighter, and she has proven this more than once," he said.
Kyiv’s Pechersky Court on Tuesday found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office in issuing directives for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia for concluding the 2009 gas supply agreements and sentenced her to seven years in prison.
