European deputy criticizes statements discouraging Ukraine's drawing closer to EU

Lithuania will support the European aspirations of Ukraine if Kyiv has such political will, the ex-speaker of Lithuania MEP Vytautas Landsbergis has said.

"If Ukraine has the will and this orientation, Lithuania certainly supports and will support this European orientation," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.

At the same time, the Lithuanian politician criticized the statements about the intention to slow down Ukraine's drawing closer to Europe due to the errors and false today in Ukraine.

"We do not believe that it's right to slow it down and discourage it. It is necessary to encourage [the drawing closer], but at the same time be demanding," the MEP said.

Landsbergis also said he did not approve of an appeal by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko asking Western politicians not to help the Ukrainian officials with the European integration.

"It does not add any shine to her crown," he said.

He did not rule out that a compromise solution for Tymoshenko's case could have been her treatment abroad, in Germany.

"This could have been the solution, both humane and political. But it was decided that she is to be treated in hospital, not in prison, but in a Ukrainian hospital," Landsbergis said.

As reported, former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko has appealed to democratic states, international organizations and Ukrainians in the world, calling on them not to support "the dictator" Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and stated that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine have already been falsified. The ex-premier called on the democratic world to find a way to get rid of dictatorship in Ukraine before the falsified parliamentary elections take place there. Tymoshenko added that the democratic world knows how to fight dictatorship in sovereign countries without violence and according to the international law. She added that dictators and their teams in all countries should be taken to court, and be declared personas non grata in all democratic states.