KIEV, November 27 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said Wednesday that his main political adversary could be released from prison if she pays billions of dollars in compensation for financial damage he claims she inflicted on the country.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko caused losses of about $20 billion by approving 2009 gas contracts with Russia, Yanukovych claimed in an interview with several Ukrainian television channels.
Ukraine has been convulsed by mass street protests in recent days after a dramatic decision last week to back out of signing long-planned association agreements with the European Union.
The freeing of Tymoshenko, convicted for exceeding her authority by signing the 2009 gas deal, was an EU precondition for Kiev to be able to sign the agreements. But laws to enable Tymoshenko to leave for medical treatment in Germany were thrown out last week by Ukraine’s parliament.
“If she has committed [a crime] – then pay the money, and request or demand release,” Yanukovych said.
Tymoshenko announced a hunger strike on Monday in protest at Yanukovych's failure to sign the EU deal.
Ukrainian officials have said that Ukraine could not sign the agreements with the EU because the country’s economy had been so badly damaged by shrinking trade with Russia.
“Today we are weak, today, tentatively speaking, we are not completely healthy. Today our economy is sick,” Yanukovych said Wednesday.
Russia has been accused by the EU of exerting economic pressure on Kiev, including demanding payments for natural gas deliveries and threatening to tighten the customs regime at the shared border, in an effort to derail deeper European integration.
Russia, in turn, has accused the EU of blackmailing Ukraine to sign the deal.
