Free PM or forget deal: EU

European leaders have warned the President of Ukraine that if a Kiev court sends the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, to prison the country can forget about closer integration with the European Union.

The warning was given during a tense two-hour meeting between President Viktor Yanukovych and a delegation of EU politicians on the sidelines of a major policy forum in the Black Sea resort town of Yalta.

"I hope we brought to him very clearly the message that the rule of law is of critical importance," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt after the meeting. "Ukraine has a problem, and I hope that he understood that it needs to be resolved."

Bildt said Tymoshenko's case was discussed at length and Yanukovych was told it was unlikely European parliaments would ratify an agreement on closer co-operation between Ukraine and the EU if the former leader was sent to prison.

Stefan Fule, a top EU diplomat who also met Yanukovych, said the relationship between Europe and Ukraine would "hardly be the same" if Tymoshenko was convicted. "We've been given assurances that the President is very interested to find a solution."

Tymoshenko is accused of exceeding her authority as Prime Minister when she signed a contract on gas prices with Russia in 2009. She has been on trial in Kiev in a high-profile case that saw her bail revoked for repeated contempt of court. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and would be barred from standing in future elections.

The charismatic Tymoshenko draws most of her support from the pro-European west of Ukraine. She was one of the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution, but the Orange coalition descended into in-fighting and Yanukovych, whom the revolution had ousted, won the presidency last year.

Many European diplomats admit Tymoshenko's image of a flawless democrat may not be the full truth, but believe the trial is politically motivated and insist that political scores should not be settled through the courts. "If you are in a hole you should stop digging, and perhaps the events of the last few days show they've stopped digging," said Bildt, referring to the judge's decision to take a two-week break before delivering the verdict in the case.

Sources close to Yanukovych suggest that a bill may be rushed through Parliament that decriminalises Tymoshenko's offence.

Yanukovych himself conceded that Tymoshenko was being tried under a Soviet-era law.

- Independent