Lithuanian president urges release of opposition leaders

At a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Feb. 7 that the imprisonment of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko and former Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is politically motivated. “Putting the opposition in prison isn’t a dignified decision,” she said, adding that delays in resolving the problem could interfere with signing the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November. “The EU won’t dictate to Ukraine how to resolve this issue,” she said. As his response, Yanukovych said that he can’t ignore the criticisms, particularly from the EU. “This is a very painful issue for us,” he said. “Time is needed to find an answer to this question. For us, it’s very important that decisions reached in the nearest future are made within the bounds of the current legislation and in the legal plane.”

Zenon Zawada: We don’t believe Yanukovych will provide for Tymoshenko’s release and allow her to engage in politics before the November Vilnius summit. Therefore, the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement won’t be signed if EU leaders make this condition a firm requirement. If it is to be signed, the demand for Tymoshenko’s release must involve a magnificent compromise or be dropped altogether. The best compromise we see is a deal that releases Tymoshenko and allows her to leave the country for medical treatment, with a tacit agreement that she doesn’t return before the 2015 presidential vote. The main resistance to such a compromise is the EU leadership, which is insisting that she compete in the 2015 election. Yet that’s a requirement that the EU will likely have to bend in order to get her out of prison.