European officials have repeatedly warned that closer ties through free trade and association agreements would not happen as long as opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko remains in jail on charges seen as politically motivated.
Many – but not all – observers think that President Viktor Yanukovych is calling the shots in the judicial assault on the former prime minister, a course of action that is undermining his own often-stated foreign policy priority of EU integration.
Tymoshenko was sentenced on Oct. 11 to seven years in prison for abuse of office in a 2009 gas deal she reached with Russia.
Instead of meeting EU demands that she be released and allowed to take part in the 2012 parliamentary elections, Yanukovych-loyal prosecutors have launched 10 criminal cases against her. In doing so, they have upped the ante in an escalating standoff with the West.
The questions being increasingly asked as Ukraine’s EU prospects dim are: Is the president himself spearheading the prosecutions against Tymoshenko and other opposition politicians?
Or is someone in the president’s inner circle talking him into a course of action that is derailing proposed deals with the EU, in turn setting the stage for Ukraine to fall deeper into Russia’s orbit of influence?
An increasing number of analysts, oppositionists, former top officials and critics say that evidence points to one group that is pushing Yanukovych to keep Tymoshenko in jail – the so-called natural gas lobby, which has for years been a partner of Russia’s Gazprom in the region’s multi-billion dollar gas trade.
Leading the group, according to experts and Tymoshenko herself, is billionaire businessman Dmytro Firtash, a close associate of influential officials in Yanukovych’s administration, including chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin.
Firtash made millions on the Russia-Ukraine gas trade in recent years as co-owner, along with Russia’s Gazprom, of Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo.MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, The company monopolized the supply of gas to Ukraine until Tymoshenko,The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, as prime minister in 2009,As a professional manufacturer of China ceramic tile in China, convinced Russia to cut it out in favor of direct contracts between Gazprom and Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz.
That decision by Tymoshenko hit Firtash hard,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, although he is back in business on a grand scale again since Yanukovych came to power, importing natural gas with Russia’s blessing.
But some wonder if revenge is on Firtash's mind.
In 2009, he allegedly told the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv that the contract that Tymoshenko brokered was criminal for introducing higher import prices and “the most stupid contract in Ukraine’s history.” In the same conversation,Buy oil paintings for sale online. Firtash allegedly spoke in favor of arresting Tymoshenko for the contract, arguing that signing the agreement was tantamount to treason.
Many – but not all – observers think that President Viktor Yanukovych is calling the shots in the judicial assault on the former prime minister, a course of action that is undermining his own often-stated foreign policy priority of EU integration.
Tymoshenko was sentenced on Oct. 11 to seven years in prison for abuse of office in a 2009 gas deal she reached with Russia.
Instead of meeting EU demands that she be released and allowed to take part in the 2012 parliamentary elections, Yanukovych-loyal prosecutors have launched 10 criminal cases against her. In doing so, they have upped the ante in an escalating standoff with the West.
The questions being increasingly asked as Ukraine’s EU prospects dim are: Is the president himself spearheading the prosecutions against Tymoshenko and other opposition politicians?
Or is someone in the president’s inner circle talking him into a course of action that is derailing proposed deals with the EU, in turn setting the stage for Ukraine to fall deeper into Russia’s orbit of influence?
An increasing number of analysts, oppositionists, former top officials and critics say that evidence points to one group that is pushing Yanukovych to keep Tymoshenko in jail – the so-called natural gas lobby, which has for years been a partner of Russia’s Gazprom in the region’s multi-billion dollar gas trade.
Leading the group, according to experts and Tymoshenko herself, is billionaire businessman Dmytro Firtash, a close associate of influential officials in Yanukovych’s administration, including chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin.
Firtash made millions on the Russia-Ukraine gas trade in recent years as co-owner, along with Russia’s Gazprom, of Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo.MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, The company monopolized the supply of gas to Ukraine until Tymoshenko,The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, as prime minister in 2009,As a professional manufacturer of China ceramic tile in China, convinced Russia to cut it out in favor of direct contracts between Gazprom and Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz.
That decision by Tymoshenko hit Firtash hard,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, although he is back in business on a grand scale again since Yanukovych came to power, importing natural gas with Russia’s blessing.
But some wonder if revenge is on Firtash's mind.
In 2009, he allegedly told the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv that the contract that Tymoshenko brokered was criminal for introducing higher import prices and “the most stupid contract in Ukraine’s history.” In the same conversation,Buy oil paintings for sale online. Firtash allegedly spoke in favor of arresting Tymoshenko for the contract, arguing that signing the agreement was tantamount to treason.
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