Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Ukraine ex-PM warrant cancelled



The decision was made [to cancel the warrant] after she went to Moscow voluntarily to give evidence to the military prosecutor's office and agreed to return for the investigation. Mrs Tymoshenko was appointed prime minister after playing a leading role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

[..]

During her time as prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko had refused to travel to Russia because of the arrest warrant but on Saturday she made a private visit to Moscow.

[...]

Mrs Tymoshenko is accused of bribing Russian military officials when she was in charge of Ukraine's main gas distributor in the 1990s, an allegation she denies.
There's not much more to read, but it's here.

Is this a case of Russia interfering with the Ukrainian internal politics (by attempting to smear or arrest one of their nemeses) or is it a case of Timoshenko trying too hard to make herself popular with the voting public (cheap gas prices). Or is it a case of she did what she had to prevent the Ukrainian people from freezing during winter?

Hard call. I'm not a Timoshenko fan, but ... this one might be a case of bad things happening for the wrong reasons to a not so good person doing something that really needed doing. Nuthin's clean in Ukraine. Esp the politics.

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