You're reading: Tymoshenko says she hoped to win presidency and develop Russian-Ukrainian gas cooperation

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said at a session of Kyiv's Pechersky District Court on the gas case on Wednesday that while signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009, she laid down a solid foundation and strategy for Ukrainian-Russian cooperation, while hoping to win the presidential elections in 2010.

"Frankly speaking, I hoped that the presidential elections [in 2010] would end a little differently, and therefore, the directives and this strategy of cooperation in the gas sector laid rather solid prospects and a strategy for cooperation between Russia and Ukraine in this sphere. Therefore, I could not harm [Ukraine’s] future in any way," she said, when asked by her lawyer, Yuriy Sukhov, whether she had foreseen any possible negative consequences from the signing of gas contracts with Russia in 2009.

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that in general, the ex-premier’s defense had asked her few questions. In particular, lawyer Oleksandr Plakhotniuk asked Tymoshenko whether she abused her office when holding gas talks with Russia in January 2009, and Tymoshenko replied: "In January [2009], as during the rest of the time, I did not exceed my official duties." This question brought smiles on the faces of Tymoshenko and Presiding Judge Rodion Kireyev.

Plakhotniuk asked his client whether she pursued a self-serving goal or acted in favor of third parties. Tymoshenko said: "I acted against the interests of third parties – RosUkrEnergo – and solely in the interests of the state."

Kireyev, who asked almost no questions during the interrogation of witnesses and experts, asked Tymoshenko to comment on the circumstances of drafting the directives for gas talks.

At the end of the session, lawyers wanted to file another petition to cancel Tymoshenko’s arrest, but Kireyev announced the break in the court session until Thursday morning, taking into account the long interrogation of the defendant at the court session on Wednesday.