Ukraine foreign minister says Tymoshenko is not sick

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara said on July 4 that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko refuses medical treatment from Ukrainian authorities and won’t submit samples for testing. “From a formal, legal point of view, Ms. Tymoshenko in theory is not sick since there’s no evidence,” he told a television news program.

Zenon Zawada: Kozhara’s statement is a rebuff to the EU following the statements of German doctors urging for Tymoshenko to receive treatment abroad. The Ukrainian government is showing that it’s not intimidated by the prospect of losing the Association Agreement (which is broadly understood to depend on her release). Instead, Ukrainian leaders are raising the stakes, making the bet that the EU side is willing to concede more for the agreement than they are willing to, particularly when it comes to Tymoshenko. It’s a risky game that may backfire considering the EU leadership is seeing that the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych won’t much committed to Western values.