Kremlin big boys threaten Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with arrest

By Aussiegirl

In a less than diplomatic tit for tat, Russia has suddenly decided to enforce old criminal charges for bribery that have been pending against Yulia Tymoshenko in Russia.

As recently as a few days ago, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's visit to Moscow had been on track with repeated assurances from Russian officials that she would not face arrest upon her arrival.

Now the Russians have suddenly changed their mind, and according to The Telegraph, the Prime Minister has now delayed her trip indefinitely due to the threat of arrest.

She had been planning to go to Russia for a two-day state visit, planned for April 15, but the government has been forced to cancel.

Russia's top prosecutor said she is wanted in Russia on charges of bribing military officials while she was head of a gas trading company in the mid-1990s. She denies the charges.

Vladimir Ustinov, Russia's general prosecutor, told parliament's upper house yesterday the case against Miss Tymoshenko was still open. "She is on the wanted list, as before," he said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

An arrest warrant for Miss Tymoshenko was issued by a Russian military court last September.

Now I wonder if this sudden change of heart by the guys in Russia with the big forgiving hearts has something to do with this little news story carried by Interfax which has been running in the Ukrainian press for a few days now. It seems that Borys Kolesnykov, head of the Donetsk Region, one of the eastern regions of Ukraine which threatened to secede during the tense days of the Orange Revolution, arrested and charged with extortion.

Could there be a connection? -- I report -- you decide.

Read also a good analysis up at Captain's Quarters.

Ukraine's Kolesnykov charged with attempted extortion.

KYIV. April 11 (Interfax) - Donetsk regional council chairman
Borys Kolesnykov has been charged with "attempted extortion of the property of another person with a threat of murder," said the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office.

The charge carries a sentence of 7 to 12 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property, the prosecutor's office press service told Interfax.

Kolesnykov is accused of trying to extort shares in a shopping center.

Kolesnykov was arrested on April 6 after being summoned to the Prosecutor General's Office as a witness in proceedings against officials in eastern Ukraine who are accused of seeking autonomy for their regions, which runs counter to Ukraine's constitution.