Editorial: Ukraine should be careful Friday, 14 October 2011 09:26

After the sentencing of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in jail, the security services of the former Soviet Republic launched a new corruption probe against her yesterday. This time, the darling of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, will be possibly charged with corruption in handling state funds when she headed the company United Energy Systems in the 1990s.

The government of president President Viktor Yanukovych is likely to accuse her of embezzling $405m in cooperation with another government member while being at the helm of the firm in the post-Soviet days.

The new inquest against Tymoshenko is likely to be jarring for the international community including regional power house Russia comes as it does in the immediate aftermath of her incarceration verdict that also asked the leader to repay $189m in losses to the government. The judgment that convicted a largely-defiant Tymoshenko comes after a trial that has been largely seen as a sham by international observers. It nailed the blonde leader for purported losses to the state exchequer in a gas deal with Russia in which she is said to have exceeded the powers of her office as the prime minister in 2009.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called the sentence disappointing and said that it that smacked of selective justice. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has decided not to limit its cooperation with Kiev over the verdict.

The military alliance though said that Tymoshenko’s sentencing would be taken into account when it states make their annual assessment of Ukraine’s reform programmes later this month.

Besides the widespread criticism, Kiev needs to factor in the prospects of alienating the European Union with which it is in the process of signing a trade deal seen to help it enter the European economic mainstream. The creation of a free trade zone with the bloc which forms part of a broader agreement, promises a big opportunity for Ukraine, an exporter of steel, chemicals and grain.

Whether Yanukovych can outride the storm raised in the West over what is being seen as political witchhunt and orchestrated decision will largely determine Ukraine’s economic future and political standing in the international arena.

Leaders being persecuted and jailed as part of political vendetta is not new. The history of many nations is replete with instances of political rivalries turning into bitter revenge battles.

The current leadership of Ukraine needs to focus on the country’s future and avoid any actions which smack of vendetta against political rivals and alienate its international partners particularly in the West. This would help the former Soviet Republic avoid being labelled a state which rides roughshod over the rights of its politicians.