You're reading: Times of Malta: Political football in Ukraine

The expression “poli­tical football” is usually used as a metaphor for the competitive way politicians tackle certain issues, attempting to use the issue to score points off each other rather than address the matter for its own sake.

However, in the case of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and now an opposition politician convicted for abuse of office, the term is taking on a gruesome literal meaning.

Read more here.