Financial Times: Tymoshenko charged, cries foul about persecution

Roman Olearchyk writes: Ukrainian prosecutors have formally charged Yulia Tymoshenko, the nation’s former prime minister and current opposition leader, of exceeding authority by brokering a natural gas supply agreement with Russia in 2009 with import prices that officials say were too high.

Tymoshenko says the charges against her are politically motivated, amount to persecution and stands by her 2009 gas agreement for removing gas trading intermediaries that are co-owned by businessmen close to President Viktor Yanukovych from the multibillion-dollar gas trade between Ukraine and Russia. The agreement, she claims, made energy relations between Kyiv and Moscow more transparent.

In charging Tymoshenko, Ukrainian prosecutors are not only helping Yanukovych undermine a political rival, they could also help the Ukrainian president's administration build a case in negotiations with Russia that the previous agreement was adopted illegally by her and should be renegotiated.

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