Former Naftogaz manager gets three years probation for role in 2009 gas deal

Former First Deputy Chairman of Naftogaz of Ukraine Ihor Didenko was sentenced to three years probation yesterday, Interfax reported. Didenko was arrested in July 2010 for his role in signing Ukraine’s 2009 gas contracts with Russia, which were negotiated by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is also on trial at the same district court in Kyiv. On August 30, prosecutors changed the charges against Didenko for milder ones. After the sentence was read by Judge Oksana Tsarevych, Didenko was released from custody. Brad Wells: The Didenko verdict is the first of several cases to reach sentencing for alleged crimes related to the 2009 gas contracts with Russia, and could be something of a preview of the treatment Tymoshenko could get; sentencing in her case could come as soon as this week. In our view, despite the steady chorus of backlash from the opposition and abroad (most recently this weekend from EU Foreign Ministers at an informal summit), government prosecutors have already invested too much of their reputation on this case and Tymoshenko is unlikely to be released without at least similar conviction and probation, which should keep her from running for public office.