You're reading: Tymoshenko says she was ready for arrest

Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the Batkivschyna party, said that she knew about the plans to arrest her back on Monday and had prepared a video address to the people of Ukraine.

"I got a phone call from people who work for the Prosecutor General’s Office and the presidential administration, who warned me that I would be arrested. […] I knew that the prosecutors were planning to arrest me and I even recorded an address to the people of Ukraine yesterday [on Monday] at 11:00 p.m. saying that there would be such an arrest and the [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych had made such a political decision, but I would categorically not hide or leave the country because I have not violated any laws," Tymoshenko said on Channel 5 television on Tuesday.

Tymoshenko also said she was detained in the Main Investigations Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office on Tuesday morning and was about to be taken to court, where a final decision on her case would be made, when Yanukovych ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office to release her under pressure from the public, diplomats, and European parliamentarians.

Ukrainian First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said earlier that the gas contract case against Tymoshenko has eight volumes and can be read within 1-2 weeks. "The case will be sent to court immediately after Tymoshenko becomes familiar with it," he told a briefing in Kyiv, adding that he is hoping the case will be sent to court "as soon as possible."