Ukraine’s parliament stuck the Yulia Tymoshenko to-do item into the “later” basket on Tuesday, putting off until Thursday a vote on legislation that could set in motion the release of the jailed opposition leader. Her freedom is a key condition set by the EU to sign historic free trade and association agreements next week in Vilnius. Tick, tock.
Yet while Ukraine’s handling of this case of so-called “selective justice” drags on, there was also news out of Ukraine on Tuesday reinforcing the view that Russia – which is pressuring Ukraine to back away from the EU agreements – is meddling in the Ukraine gas market somewhat “selectively”, too.
Just days after Gazprom ratcheted up the pressure on Ukraine‘s state-owned gas company Naftogaz, accusing it of being late in paying for some $1 billion worth of natural gas imports, Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash confirmed that recent billion-dollar gas imports made by his company were being bankrolled by Russia’s Gazprombank.
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http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/11/19/ukraine-whos-being-selective-now/
