Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister of Ukraine andnow aleading opposition figure, pleaded not guilty Friday toabuse-of-office charges, dismissing them as politically motivated.
Prosecutors accuse Tymoshenko, who narrowly lost the 2010 presidential election to current leader Victor Yanukovych, of illegally forcing through a gas supply deal with Russia in 2009 that Yanukovych’s government called a sell-out of national interests. The case has raised concerns in the West and, in particular, in the European Union, with which Ukraine wants to sign agreements on free trade and association. Read the stoty here.
