Tymoshenko Suspected in State Treason

KYIV, Ukraine, March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The Ukrainian parliament interim commission announced its report on Tymoshenko railroading Ukrainian Naftogaz into signing the gas contracts with Russian Gazprom. The report revealed former Prime Minister Tymoshenko having personal interest in signing the 2009 gas contract on the grounds discriminatory to the Ukrainian side, reported RBC. The report also discovered signs of state treason in the actions of Ukraine's ex-prime minister.

The head of the interim commission Inna Bohoslovska presented the report on Russia-Ukraine 2009 gas contracts before the Ukrainian parliament - Verkhovna Rada. The majority of the parliamentary members voted to accept the report. Bohoslovska announced that the commission revealed signs of the state treason Tymoshenko had committed in the area of economic security of the state.  

The report stated that while negotiating the infamous gas agreements with Russia Tymoshenko had concealed the fact that her private companies had had an outstanding debt of USD 405 million owing to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Moreover, the report claimed that the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Tymoshenko and proved that she bribed officials of the ministry on several occasions.  

The interim commission has ascertained that Tymoshenko held clandestine negotiations with the prime minister of Russia, where she gave her individual agreement to Russia's discriminatory conditions. She bypassed Ukrainian government (the Cabinet of Ministers), i.e. breaking the law, and singlehandedly instructing the officials of the Ukrainian state owned gas and energy company Naftogaz to sign the gas agreements. According to the report, Tymoshenko pressured the head of Naftogaz, who refused to sign the contracts in question, by threatening to dismiss him from the office.  

The interim commission, however, cannot qualify Tymoshenko's doings as a state treason for the lack of authority. The report is to be forwarded to the international community, including Council of Europe, PACE, UN, OSCE, NATO, as well as the parliaments of Russia, USA, Canada and the 27 EU member-states. Earlier the West criticized Ukraine for sentencing Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for embezzlement after allegedly a politically motivated trial.

Link to the official Web site of the Ukrainian parliament - Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb_n/webproc4_1?id=&pf3511=42834

Link to the actual report that reveals the facts described in the press release: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb_n/webproc34?id=&pf3511=42834&pf35401=216976

Link to the approved resolution of the Ukrainian parliament accepting the report: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb_n/webproc34?id=&pf3511=42834&pf35401=216974

SOURCE People's Deputy of Ukraine Inna Bohoslovska