Former Ukrainian Premier and Leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko has claimed that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is trying to foil the process of signing Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union.
"I feel that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his team have started using this illegal court process against me and against other opposition political parties not only to eliminate the oppositions but also to attack the process of signing the agreements on political association and a free trade area with the EU," Tymoshenko said during a briefing outside Pechersky District Court of Kyiv.
"I am asking you not to tie, under any circumstances, the current opposition to political repressions in Ukraine, opposition to illegal criminal and legal persecutions of the opposition with the signing of the Association Agreement and a free trade agreement. This is today’s goal of President Yanukovych," she read out her letter to the EU leaders.
This is precisely why the current authorities continue the illegal processes against opposition activists – to prompt the relevant reaction from the global democratic community, including the EU, Tymoshenko said.
"Once again, I address the leaders of European countries and the EU with a request: Even if the Ukrainian authorities do not carry out their tasks in full, find the political wisdom and sign the Association Agreement and an agreement on a free trade area by the end of the year, because this would give and opportunity to start a real fight, real resistance to the authoritarianism and corruption in Ukraine," she said.
Tymoshenko added that by making loud statements about his desire to sign the agreements, President Yanukovych was actually doing everything possible to make the signing of the documents impossible.
In addition, according to Tymoshenko, through "the repression of the opposition" the authorities are trying to distract the public from the social and economic situation in Ukraine.
