According to Yatseniuk, the demand to impose personal sanctions will appear on the US Senate’s resolution unless Tymoshenko is released. Currently, the US Senate demands the Ukrainian government to solve the issue with Tymoshenko, free her and stop political persecution in its draft resolution.
Yatseniuk stated that he discussed this draft resolution at a meeting with Senator McCain on June 25.
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“We discussed this draft resolution and agreed that the content of this resolution will be completely different if Ukraine fulfills all requirements related to the release of Yulia Tymoshenko and the signing of the Association Agreement,” he explained.
“If Ukraine does not fulfill these requirements and Yulia Tymoshenko remains in prison, the resolution … will include tough phrases, including those on personal sanctions against Ukrainian top officials who do not comply with agreements and meet their promises,” Yatseniuk commented.
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As he answered to a journalist’s question on whether this means anything similar to the Magnitsky list, Yatseniuk noted that “Senator McCain said this specific phrase and I would like to outline our stance very clearly. After all meetings with many senators and congressmen at the Department of State, the White House, the Congress and the Senate, I am convinced that our American partners support the signing of the Agreement and believe that the key requirement should be fulfilled. They are very clear and tough about the protection of democracy in Ukraine.”
On June 25, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations adopted a resolution calling on the Ukrainian government to release Yulia Tymoshenko.
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In mid-June, Dirk Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip and member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted a draft resolution on the Tymoshenko case calling on the Ukrainian government to release Yulia Tymoshenko in light of the recent verdict by the European Court of Human Rights that claims her imprisonment on the “gas case” illegal.
