Leader of the Batkivschyna Party Yulia Tymoshenko criticized the current Ukrainian government's record on democracy at a meeting with a delegation from the United States Congress consisting of Senators Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Mike Crapo, and Ron Johnson.
According to the press service of the Batkivschyna Party, the U.S. senators in turn expressed their concern about the worsening of the investment climate and the regression of political freedoms in Ukraine.
"We’re getting very alarming signals from our businessmen. We’re especially alarmed by the worsening of business conditions, corruption, the introduction of governmental quotas on farming products and the regression of political freedoms in Ukraine," Senator Sessions said.
In turn, Tymoshenko said that "an erosion of democracy is taking place and an authoritarian government system is being established" in Ukraine. According to her, this can be seen from the "systematic violations of the Constitution and laws by President Viktor Yanukovych and the government subordinated to him, ignoring the rights and freedoms of the people, the intimidation and oppression of the opposition by the authorities, the subordination of the judicial and court systems to the presidential administration, as well as the censorship of, assaults on, and the disappearance of journalists."
"A year ago Ukraine took a train moving in the opposite direction from democracy and European integration. Without the introduction of real values, Ukraine will not manage to improve its investment climate. Unfortunately, today [President] Yanukovych’s oligarchs have privatized all spheres in Ukraine, including economics, politics and the social sphere," Tymoshenko said.
The senators said Ukraine was a strategic partner of the United States and that it was very important to support a dialogue on bilateral cooperation with both the incumbent government of Ukraine and the opposition.
The senators also praised Tymoshenko and her party’s attempts to protect Ukraine’s democratic values, according to the Batkivschyna Party.
