You're reading: Tymoshenko faces charges in 2009 deal

Ukrainian prosecutors on May 24 charged former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with abuse of office for signing a gas import contract with Russia at prices that officials say were too high.

Investigators say the 10-year contract signed in January 2009 was ruinous for the Ukrainian economy and that Tymoshenko did not have Cabinet approval to sign it.

Prosecutor General’s Office spokesman Yuriy Boychenko said Tymoshenko’s actions cost the state 3.5 billion hryvnia ($440 million) in damages. He declined further comment on the charges and the possible sentence.

The contract was signed amid a bitter pricing war with Russia, in which Russia cut off shipments to Ukraine. Government officials say the contract commits Ukraine to pay prices for natural gas that are higher than many other European countries. Tymoshenko, who has also been charged in two other cases, refutes this claim.

She denies any wrongdoing, saying the contract helped end the gas war and resume supplies to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.


I am absolutely convinced that they dropped the idea of arresting me only under severe pressure from [the people of] Kyiv, who spontaneously began to gather near the prosecutor’s office, honest journalists and the reaction by the international community.

Yulia Tymoshenko

According to her, the charges are part of a campaign by her arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych to crush opposition. About a dozen senior members in her former cabinet have been charged or investigated for corruption, and some are in jail, including Tymoshenko’s ally former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who remains in detention since late December 2010.

On May 24, when Tymoshenko showed up to the prosecutor’s office for questioning, her allies claimed she was under the threat of being arrested.

The prosecutors obtained a Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ruling on May 23 to detain Tymoshenko in order to take her to court to arrest her for hampering probes into charges of abuse of power. Tymoshenko denies it, saying that she missed visits to the investigators only when she was sick.

She said that she learned about plans to arrest her from sources in government and even prepared a video address to the people of Ukraine.

During seven hours of testimony, Western ambassadors in Ukraine met with the Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka. They discussed the investigation into Tymoshenko, the general prosecutor’s press service reported on May 24. No further details were provided.

First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said on May 24 that investigators would not arrest Tymoshenko because the probe had finished.

“I am absolutely convinced that they dropped the idea of arresting me only under severe pressure from [the people of] Kyiv, who spontaneously began to gather near the prosecutor’s office, honest journalists and the reaction by the international community,” Tymoshenko said on May 26.

The EU will continue to underline to the Ukrainian authorities the need for respect for the rule of law, incorporating fair, impartial and independent legal processes.

– From the statement issued by Catherine Ashton, a spokesperson for European Union High Representative.

Ukraine wants to sign an association agreement with the European Union this year and aspires to become a fully-fledged member. But Brussels has expressed concern that probes into Tymoshenko and her allies could be political persecution.

“The EU will continue to underline to the Ukrainian authorities the need for respect for the rule of law, incorporating fair, impartial and independent legal processes,” reads a May 26 statement issued by a spokesperson for European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton.

“We stress the importance of ensuring the maximum transparency of investigations, prosecutions and trials,” the statement reads.

This statement was another reminder from the European Union about the need for Ukraine to also stick to democracy and rule of law if the country wants an association agreement and free-trade zone with the EU.