tymoshenko

Many observers, including the European Union, saw the case as a show trial designed to punish Ms Tymoshenko for her political ambitions.

"Oh dear, " said Ms Tymoshenko, before switching off the television, "he does look like an upset child. "

Some European officials have said Ukraine's leader will not be welcome in Brussels if Tymoshenko is still in jail when he visits.

It would be against Ms Tymoshenko's nature not to turn her show trial into political theatre.

Ms Tymoshenko is now calling on the Rada to hold a confidence vote in her government.

Ms Tymoshenko is still to reinvent herself as an opposition leader. The media have yet to recover their integrity and professionalism.

Ms. Tymoshenko became an international figure in 2004, with her trademark braids, as a leader of the "Orange Revolution. "

But Tymoshenko, with her trademark blond peasant braid, also has supporters in Brussels, the seat of the European Union.

The Penitentiary Service said Tymoshenko refused on Tuesday to be inspected by a medical expert, a claim dismissed by her lawyer.

One possibility is the reunion of Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko. Another is a coalition between the Party of the Regions and Our Ukraine.

Ms Tymoshenko's imprisonment now jeopardises years of clumsy but steady progress towards Europe.

After a brief dip under Ms Tymoshenko, the economy is doing well, with GDP growing by over 7% a year, and incomes are rising.

During the recent presidential election in Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko campaigned with a $500m Chinese loan for infrastructure projects.

In the lead-up to the revolution Tymoshenko embodied a spirit of atonement, and needed an image to match.

Ukrainians have to pick one of two familiar faces: Mr Yanukovich or Ms Tymoshenko.

Mr Yatseniuk's rating has doubled in a few months and he is now catching up with Ms Tymoshenko.

Mrs Tymoshenko played a key role in the "Orange Revolution" , her plait hairdo making her a distinctive figure.

After hinting that Ms Tymoshenko's sentence might be modified, Mr Yanukovych now says he will not bow to international pressure.

"Whoever wins the presidential election will next day run into the same problems, " says Ms Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko has hinted that she's ready for a change, but her supporters may struggle to accept this.

Ms Tymoshenko later became his prime minister, until her alliance with the president drowned in a mire of corruption allegations in 2005.

Any potential progress was also hampered by constant squabbles with his former Orange ally, then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

But, says Tymoshenko, the linguistic character of her region is changing.

Just consider Yulia Tymoshenko, the recently elected Ukrainian prime minister ousted from that same position a few years ago.

The heroine of the 2004 pro-Western Orange revolution, Ms Tymoshenko has long predicted that she will be found guilty.

Ms Tymoshenko might prefer to be fired (again) than to be blamed for failing to curb inflation.

Ms Tymoshenko used her trial to turn prosecution witnesses into laughing-stocks.

Both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych talked of 'resetting' a more pragmatic relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

Ms Tymoshenko's party did well, taking votes from the Party of the Regions led by Viktor Yanukovich, the outgoing prime minister.

Mr Yushchenko says that "half of my own block has been bought by Ms Tymoshenko, while the other half cannot support her economic methods" .

Mrs Tymoshenko said Playboy would be "the best choice for any real woman" .

To counterbalance the hairdo, Tymoshenko's outfits needed to be demure yet commanding.

Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko have not spoken for six weeks; both are said to have talked to Mr Yanukovich instead.

Ms Tymoshenko has busied herself with seeking to raise this bilaterally, most notably through a US$5bn credit from Russia.

Another law passed in January, with the help of the opportunistic Ms Tymoshenko, weakened Mr Yushchenko further.

His trip could be cancelled without a positive development in the Tymoshenko case.

The two countries' prime ministers, Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, signed a formal agreement in Moscow on gas prices and direct sales.

Ms Tymoshenko also claims that Mr Yanukovich has worked hard, and with some success, to split her own party.

Supporters insisted that Tymoshenko was innocent, that these allegations against her is political persecution.

THE arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine, on August 5th was predictable, but it still came as a nasty surprise.

An economist, talented central banker and former prime minister, Yushchenko is as dramatic a figure as Tymoshenko.

Forming that government depends on Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko sticking together.

The Our Ukraine block consists of ten parties. Some of Mr Yushchenko's supporters cannot stand Ms Tymoshenko.

These supporters said they would support Tymoshenko with "anti-people system" to fight, shouting "glory belongs to Ukraine! "

Tymoshenko is in turn blaming Yushchenko for obstructing payments to Russia.

"We are almost done with intrigues, unfair agreements, plots and murky games, " Ms Tymoshenko wrote in a recent article.

Mr Yushchenko had earlier accused the prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, of treason for not criticising Russia's attack on Georgia.

Ashton also former Ukrainian prime minister, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko expressed concern about the arrest.

BEING YULIA: A worker hung up a large poster of Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Thursday in Kiev.

Shortly after the verdict was announced President Yanukovych unexpectedly broke his long silence on the Tymoshenko case.

Many of the hopes raised by the "orange revolution" were later dashed by the squabbles between Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko.

Earlier, Ukraine's Deputy Attorney General, said in Parliament that they are collecting Tymoshenko evidence of guilt or innocence.

The Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine on Saturday accepted Tymoshenko's request to withdraw her lawsuit.

Nerves were further frayed on December 11th, when the electronic voting system failed to register two votes for Ms Tymoshenko.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will stand trial in Kyiv on Wednesday, charged with abuse of power.

The Tymoshenko government says the arrangements are costly, not transparent, and corrupt.

After three months of bargaining Ms Tymoshenko becomes prime minister and forms a coalition government.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's claim to (fashion) fame was her trademark golden hair braid.

Ukraine's prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was forced out after losing a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Ms Tymoshenko's legal challenge was not meant to overturn the election or trigger street protests.

The orange forces, led by Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko, defeated the vote-rigging Mr Yanukovich, who was backed by Moscow.

He blames Ms Tymoshenko for sacrificing the ideology of the 2004 orange revolution to political expediency and populism.

Recently, Alexey Tymoshenko, a photographer from Ukraine, captured a romantic drama between two lizards.

Russia saw the charges as an indirect attack on Vladimir Putin, its prime minister, who had signed the agreement with Ms Tymoshenko.

Ms Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, is herself under investigation for alleged abuses of office.

Ms Tymoshenko could, however, try to challenge the result in the courts which would lead to a prolonged legal battle and more uncertainty.

Mrs Tymoshenko is no ordinary defendant.

Ms. Tymoshenko says she is innocent and denounced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as a rival who fears political competition.

He abstained from televised debates with Ms Tymoshenko to avoid making gaffes.

But the momentum is still running Ms Tymoshenko's way.

Tymoshenko has been standing trial sitting, sitting beside her daughter, Evgeny Eugenia.

After making Ms Tymoshenko prime minister, he promptly set about undermining her.

Formerly allies, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko are now bitter rivals.

Ukraine's prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, also told EU officials that $5 billion was needed to avert a fresh gas crisis.

So instead, in May prosecutors charged Ms Tymoshenko with exceeding her authority in signing a gas agreement with Russia in 2009.

Hundreds of Tymoshenko's supporters Sunday took to the streets to protest her arrest in Kiev.

Ms Tymoshenko's threats to reopen privatisation deals and her price caps on fuel and other commodities damaged the economy.

Ms Tymoshenko is on trial for allegedly signing an illegal gas deal with Russia in 2009, when she was prime minister.

In the past few months Ms Tymoshenko's modest popularity rating has barely budged even as Mr Yanukovych's has slid downwards.

But Ms Tymoshenko's popularity has also suffered recently.

Supporters of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko shout slogans outside the Pecherskiy District Court in Kiev.

The formal reason for Ms Tymoshenko's arrest last week was "contempt of court" .

Ms Tymoshenko has not, it is true, been the model defendant.

Wu's Procuratorate accused Tymoshenko signed in Ewu 2009 gas contract ultra vires.

Mr Yanukovich won the most votes in the first round yet the wily and more appealing Ms Tymoshenko could yet snatch victory.

But Ms Tymoshenko dallied, refusing to accept defeat.

By locking up Ms Tymoshenko before her trial was over, he has crossed a line.

Recently, the Kremlin has preferred Ms Tymoshenko as somebody they can do business with, but there is no love lost.

If he is to get there, he must let Ms Tymoshenko out. He can still do this.

Yanukovich is Ukraine's most popular politician according to polls with more than 20 percent, followed by Tymoshenko at 15 percent.

Tymoshenko believes that the European card is her best one to play.

Opinion polls suggest that Ms Tymoshenko, who is no angel and mistrusted by many Ukrainians, posed no real threat to Mr Yanukovich.

Made in court after the verdict, Tymoshenko said: "We will fight back, the European Court of Justice to maintain my good reputation. "

Viktor Yanukovych, who defeated Ms Tymoshenko in last year's presidential election, hinted that the sentence could be adjusted.

Ms Tymoshenko is the most professional politician in Ukraine , but also the most populist.

Tymoshenko in the 1990s and Lazarenko has been in the political and business aspects of any contact.

If found guilty, as seems likely, Ms Tymoshenko faces up to ten years in prison.

The regime's persecution of Ms Tymoshenko began almost immediately after she (narrowly) lost last year's presidential election.

Were Mrs Tymoshenko to be jailed (she faces a maximum sentence of ten years), she is likely to emerge as a political martyr.

STATUE of Joan of Arc sits on the desk of Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's opposition leader.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the country had struggled to pay its latest monthly gas bill to Russia. [ID: nL6559554]

To use Mrs Thatcher's famous phrase about Gorbachev, Putin clearly thought Tymoshenko was someone he could 'do business with';