KIEV — The European Union said Thursday that it was concerned about “suggestions of political motivation” behind criminal cases against Ukrainian opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Ukrainian prosecutors have told Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who lost to President Viktor Yanukovych in a 2010 election, that she may be detained for hampering probes into charges of abuse of power over carbon permit sales and a gas deal with Russia.
She has dismissed the allegations as a political witch hunt.
“The EU head of delegation is in contact with the authorities in Kiev regarding the court decision of May 23 to detain Mrs. Tymoshenko and to express our concern at suggestions of political motivation behind these cases,” the office of the EU’s foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.