Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has said she is planning to file a petition to the Prosecutor General's Office to allow her to visit Brussels. She said she sure that her first trip to Brussels had been blocked at the order of President Viktor Yanukovych.
"Today I will file a petition so that the Prosecutor General’s Office puts no obstacles in my way and gives me a chance to attend the summit of the European People’s Party," she told journalists on Wednesday before entering the building of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
"I would like [Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych, who last time banned me from travelling to Brussels, to abandon this absurdity and order the investigators to issue permission [for me] to travel to Brussels," Tymoshenko said.
"The investigators or prosecutor’s offices could not have taken such a decision on their own. Therefore, his statement and his criticism of the prosecutor’s office that I was not allowed to visit Brussels looks cynical and laughable," Tymoshenko said.
"The one thing a president shouldn’t do is look laughable," she said.
President Viktor Yanukovych has said Feb. 15 he is "annoyed" by the fact that Yulia Tymoshenko is not allowed to visit Brussels.
"This restriction annoys me, [and] I have expressed my opinion to the prosecutor general," he said during a briefing in Kharkiv on Tuesday.
According to the president, such issues should be treated very attentively and "no politics should be played around it."
"The courts have to give answers to such questions. While there are no answers, the person is free, and he or she cannot be blamed for something," the head of state said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office opened criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko regarding the misuse of funds received by Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol, and abuse of office while purchasing Opel Combo vehicles against government guarantees.
According to experts, the cars do not correspond to national standard and are not fit for transportation patients on stretchers.
Tymoshenko cannot currently leave Kyiv due to a travel ban. She can leave the city only if she gets permission from the investigator.
European politicians invited Tymoshenko to visit Brussels, but the Prosecutor General’s Office put a ban on her travel abroad.
Tymoshenko was again invited to visit Brussels in March.
