PM Mykoła Azarow with Polish Radio's Piotr Pogorzelski in Kiev: photo - kmu.gov.ua
Ukrainians “understand that Tymoshenko is guilty” and that she "is responsible for the fact that we pay two times more than Germany does for gas,” Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has told Polish Radio journalist Piotr Pogorzelski in Kiev.
Tymoshenko is currently serving a seven-year jail term for “abuse of power” as prime minister in 2008 when concluding an energy deal with Russia.
The EU, Poland and others have questioned whether the trial and jail sentence of Tymoshenko – one of the heroes of the ‘Orange Revolution’ and a fierce opponent of the current president, Viktor Yanukovich.– was political, and not criminal, in nature.
Several European politicians have said they will not be travelling to Ukraine during the Euro 2012 tournament, in protest against her treatment while in prison, after photos emerged of the 51-year-old Tymoshenko with bruising to her arms and stomach, which she says she received at the hands of prison guards.
“If they [politicians] believe photos in newspapers of so-called bruises and draw conclusions from that, without even waiting for forensic evidence, then this is a flippant attitude,” PM Azarov said.
“How can the level of relations between states be concluded from pictures in a newspaper? That is, to say the least, biased,” he adds.
Azarov claimed that there were no significant protests against the imprisonment of Tymoshenko.
“People are not protesting against the arrest of the former prime minister. Prior to [her sentencing] there were 15 to 20 people [protesting] with posters. Is this a demonstration?”
President Yanukovich rejected the possibility of Tymoshenko being treated for a chronic spine problem in Germany, as had been requested by German doctors who have examined her.
“I am often advised, `Why don't you send Tymoshenko abroad to get treated?'" Yanukovych said this week. "If this depended on me, I would have done it long ago. But this is not allowed by the law, there need to be appropriate legislative changes" for this, adding that Ukrainian law did not allow for prisoners to be treated outside the country.
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said, Thursday, after an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, that German chancellor Angela Merkel would in fact be attending matches in both Poland and Ukraine during Euro 2012. (pg)