Yulia Tymoshenko: government’s actions contradict Ukraine’s international obligations

Actions by the current Ukrainian government contradict Ukraine’s international obligations, including the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership that was signed while she was prime minister of Ukraine, says Yulia Tymoshenko.

"Our political force was determined to fulfill the provisions of this Charter. We always counted on cooperation between the US and Ukraine and joint projects," Yulia Tymoshenko said today during a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J. Burns.

Yulia Tymoshenko added that the Charter rightly notes that "Our friendship comes from mutual understanding and appreciation for the shared belief that democracy is the chief guarantor of security, prosperity and freedom." "I fully agree and share this approach. What is happening today in Ukraine contradicts not only the Charter’s key principles, but also Ukraine’s obligations before the Council of Europe and other European and Euro-Atlantic organizations."

Democracy is being eroded and authoritarian practices introduced in Ukraine, she said. "In my opinion, we are dealing with a conscious policy by the current leadership to achieve absolute power, to promote political corruption in parliament and transform it a decorative branch of power, to subordinate the justice system to the executive branch through the High Council of Justice, which is riddled with conflicts of interest and has been given excessive powers, to restrict freedom of press and freedom of speech, to manipulate the criminal justice system and to use the tax administration, police, and especially the Security Service of Ukraine to persecute and repress political opponents from the opposition."

The former prime minister highlighted that intimidation of the opposition, media and civil society organizations is being stepped up due to the local elections scheduled for October 31 – the first since the presidential elections in February.

Under Secretary of State Burns stressed that the US is carefully monitoring the situation in Ukraine. "Ukraine is an extremely important country for the US. We place great importance on the development of relations between our two countries," he said.