Caspian Report - Issue 06 - Winter 2014

SERGII TOLSTOV
100
AFTER TYMOSHENKO WAS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN
2011, SELECTIVE PROSECUTION OF THE OPPOSITION
LEADERS ON POLITICAL GROUNDS WAS THE MAIN
DRIVING FORCE OF THE EU’S APPROACH TO UKRAINE’S
POLITICS THROUGHOUT 2012.
opposition leaders. While criticising
the internal policy actions of official
Kiev (e.g. the legally questionable formation
of the parliamentary majority,
returning the Constitution to its 1996
version), the leaders of a number of
the EU countries, demonstrated solidarity
with Yulia Tymoshenko, who is
regarded as the Ukrainian opposition
leader and the chief representative of
the “pro-European” faction in Ukrainian
politics.
After Tymoshenko was sentenced to
prison in 2011, selective prosecution
of the opposition leaders on political
grounds was the main driving force of
the EU’s approach to Ukraine’s politics
throughout 2012. There were even
attempts at a diplomatic boycott and
calls to disrupt the Euro 2012 Football
Championship.
Regardless of the fact that in 2013, the
Ukrainian authorities demonstrated
their readiness to sign the Association
Agreement, the subject of Tymoshenko’s
release dominated the statements
of the EU official representatives. This
allowed the European politicians to
avoid discussing a number of practical
issues including those related to the
practical preparation of Ukraine’s economic
and political association with
the EU. Thus, the policy of “vertical”
management and dictate in relation to
Ukraine was perceived in Brussels and
the capitals of European countries as
wholly natural and reasonable. There
are also serious grounds to think that
the emphasis on the subjects of releasing
Tymoshenko and conducting
deeper political reforms in Ukraine
was considered by the European politicians
constitute a form of political propaganda.
These tactics allowed them
to avoid discussing the subject of direct
territorial and normative competition
between European and Eurasian integration
projects.
Yanukovich and most members of the
Ukrainian government were considered
by the EU and US as more like
technical figures ensuring the performance
of certain functions (first and
foremost, preparation and signing of
the Association Agreement). This approach
allowed the European politicians
and the US administration to
reckon on conducting the required
political adjustments once the Agreement
with Ukraine was signed and had
entered into force (with the assumption
of the casting of candidates for the
presidency in 2015 elections, support
to those figures who will be more useful
and reliable from the point of ensuring
EU interests and conducting the
relevant policy).
In the course of the current crisis, the
US essentially has an optional role. The
US administration is to obtain guarantees
from the Ukrainian authorities to
refrain from forceful suppression of the
“Opposition Maidan” in downtown Kiev,
aimed at pushing Yanukovich to negotiate
with the opposition and form a new
government.
The basic tasks were:
• removal from power of the persons
comprising president’s closest circle