You're reading: Tymoshenko tells Ukrainian opposition to form united party

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power, has called on the country's opposition forces to establish a united party that would counter the regime of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. 

“The ideal scenario would be further integration processes among opposition forces and the creation of a united party because the steam roller of the Regions Party can be stopped only by a powerful opposition force, which will enjoy unquestionable support in society. A merger of opposition forces and society will accelerate the death of this colossus on clay feet, in other words the Yanukovych regime,” she said in a statement, published on the Batkivschyna Party’s Web site.

The opposition’s main short-term task will be to form a well coordinated opposition coalition, which could include Batkivschyna, Svoboda and UDAR, Tymoshenko said.

“For the sake of a pro-opposition candidate’s victory in the 2015 presidential election, our factions in parliament should actually work like a clock, not just make declarations,” the former premier said.

Ukraine’s opposition forces signed an agreement on their merger exactly a year ago, she said.

This idea has proved to be feasible, Tymoshenko said.

“The opposition’s parliamentary factions are starting to function as one mechanism. This general pressure on “drawing pin pushers” is returning parliamentarianism to the [Verkhovna] Rada,” she said.

Genuine unification in Ukraine will become possible only after the country joins the European Union, Tymoshenko said.

Unification Day was previously marked in Ukraine on Jan. 22. In 2012, President Yanukovych renamed it as Unification and Freedom Day.