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Immoral to associate Timoshenko case with Ukraine Euro-integration

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov considers it immoral to associate Ukraine’s agreements with the European Union with the Timoshenko case

KIEV, September 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukraine’s Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov considers it immoral to associate Ukraine’s agreements with the European Union with the criminal case against former head of the government Yulia Timoshenko.

“The global serious issues as Ukraine’s European integration, agreement on a free trade zone – are so serious, and the development of the country depends on them, and associating them with a court trial is not just incorrect, it is even immoral,” he told a briefing during the VII Yalta Forum on Saturday.

He could not say what way out the Ukrainian leaders will find in the ‘gas case’ of Yulia Timoshenko in response to the pressure from European structures.

“You better address this question to representatives of justice,” he said. “In Ukraine, government has nothing to do with justice, and if it does, then it is in financing only.”

Ex-prime minister Yulia Timoshenko is facing charges of abuse of office while concluding gas agreements with Russia in 2009. The prosecution accuses Timoshenko of acting in excess of her powers and giving directives for signing a gas contract with Russia in 2009 without the government’s consent. As a result, gas prices in Ukraine increased, but the tariff for transit, pegged to the price of gas, did not change, which caused damage to the budget in the amount of about 200 million U.S. dollars.