You're reading: Tymoshenko not planning to leave Ukraine

Batkivschyna Party leader and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said that she is not planning to leave Ukraine.

"[President] Viktor Fedorovych [Yanukovych], even as a New Year’s gift, will not wait until I travel somewhere," she told reporters on Tuesday before the consideration of an appeal by former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko at the Kyiv Court of Appeal.

Speaking about her presence in court, Tymoshenko said: "I came to support Yura [Yuriy] Lutsenko and tell Yura that we are united and that we are together."

However, she said she has no illusions about what decision will be taken by the appellate court, "as the courts in Ukraine are puppets."

She again stressed the need to overthrow the existing government either through the elections or through protests.

"If our people have the strength, love for freedom and love for Ukraine, they have to go to the Maidan [Independence Square in Kyiv] and stand there until this government resigns… Another option is parliamentary elections," Tymoshenko said.

As reported, on December 20, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed charges against Tymoshenko that she, while holding the post of prime minister, "single-handedly decided to use part of the funds earned through the sale of greenhouse gas emission quotas to cover the Ukrainian state budget’s expenditure, primarily pension commitments." The total amount of misused funds is EUR 380 million. Tymoshenko was banned from travelling outside Kyiv.

According to the Cabinet of Ministers, Tymoshenko’s order to convert the funds allocated under the Kyoto Protocol into the national currency caused nearly UAH 1 million worth of losses to the state budget.