Tymoshenko Case Draws Ukraine Closer to The Eurasian Union
Yanukovych Discussing with the Press
Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych delivered the European Union officials a crash course on respecting the supremacy of the decision of a judicial court as he spoke on Monday about the fact that the pressures applied by the European Union on Ukraine are not likely, in his opinion, to lead to the freeing of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was convicted last week to seven years in prison for abuse of power in a case related to gas imports from Russia.
The conviction of the former prime minister is viewed by the European Union as one with “profound political implications” and is the cause of the stalemate in the discussions related to Ukrainian admission to the EU.
President Viktor Yanukovych said that the Tymoshenko case should be dissociated from the problem of Ukrainian integration to the EU. However, the European Union felt like postponing the meeting of the president on Thursday in Brussels, where he was to negotiate the EU Association Agreement, which was expected to be signed by the end of the year.
By signing this treaty, Ukraine wanted to reduce its dependence on the Russian market by finding other clients on the European market for its steel and chemical products. The treaty would lead to the creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry downplayed the decision made by the EU to postpone the meeting, a move they had anticipated since Tymoshenko was sentenced to time in prison, by saying that it is only a postponement and that the treaty would be signed eventually.
President of Ukraine made it clear that if there was a need to meet with him, the European officials knew where to find him. If there was no need to talk to Ukraine, he added, “I will fly on,” referring to his plan to visit Latin America.
Even before the news broke about Tymoshenko’s sentence to seven years in prison, the Ukrainian prime minister alluded that the negative attitude of the European Union could be indicative that the European bloc does not want Ukraine in it and consequently the Ukrainian policy should be directed toward the Customs Union, an Eurasian Union set up by president Putin as a form of uniting the countries of the former Soviet Union.
The Ukrainian PM said that if Ukraine received a clear “no” from the EU, then the chances of a shift toward the Customs Union are big.
Moscow offered Ukraine the possibility to become a member of the Customs Union, but so far Ukraine has sought a closer relation to the European nations.
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yanukovych announced that the gas deal cut by Tymoshenko in 2009 must be revised, calling it “discriminatory” and “unfair,” while Moscow insists that Kiev respects the terms of that contract. He is expected to bring the subject on during the meeting with the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
The terms of the contract were revealed during the trial by former president Viktor Yushchenko, Yulia Tymoshenko’s former “Orange Revolution” ally. Yushchenko said that by that deal Tymoshenko agreed that Ukraine pay $450 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, when she could have obtained a price of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters. The Russians offered a discount, so that Ukrainians pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters, the president said.
Tymoshenko is accused of having exceeded her powers in cutting that deal, and that the price of gas prejudiced the national economy at a time when the country already had a serious reserve of gas, and a renewed contract was not an emergency.
Speaking about the Western demand that Tymoshenko be liberated and the charges against her be dropped, Yanukovych asked rhetorically: “What kind of message to we send to society? That to be able to commit crimes one should be a member of opposition?”
The president said that even the idea of releasing Tymoshenko by modifying the legislation that incriminates abuse of office would be wrong, considering that she is expected to answer to a new set of charges, related to an embezzlement of $450 million documented by the Ukrainian security services, who allege that in the 1990s, while she was the head of the national energy company she embezzled the sum that was due to be paid as a debt to the Russian defense ministry. If she is found guilty in this case, Tymoshenko could receive another sentence of 12 years in prison.
There is no perspective of the modification of the Ukrainian legislation to decriminalize the abuse of office before the appeals court is to decide on Tymoshenko’s fate, since the project in the parliament that aims at renewing the Ukrainian legislation by removing some of the Soviet-era provisions has already received its first approval, and the removal of abuse of office was not included in it.
On Monday, Yanukovych told the press that he had never made any firm commitments to change the law in order to have Tymoshenko freed, and the Western diplomats had to admit that they had been “stringed along.”
As the Ukrainian president is to meet Medvedev, Russia announced that no economic treaties will be signed on this occasion. Yanukovych wants to cut the gas cost to $230 per 1,000 cubic meters and avoid its going up to $410 next year. An increase of the price for the Ukrainian households is expected to be applied as of next month.
