US clarifies its position on Tymoshenko

A respective statement was released by the press office of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv after "some inaccurate press reports" in the Ukrainian media that "mischaracterized the U.S. government's position on Ms. Tymoshenko."

"Let me be clear: The U.S. government has laid out its views both publicly and privately - We support the mission of former Presidents [Pat] Cox and [Aleksander] Kwasniewski in finding a resolution to allow jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to go to Germany for medical treatment. That is our focus at this time," Melia said.

He said that the U.S. side is continuing "to engage at the highest levels, including directly with President [Viktor] Yanukovych, to express concern about the politically-motivated prosecution of opposition leaders."

"As regards former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, her political future should be for the Ukrainian courts and voters to decide," the official said.

He also said that the United States fully supports the Ukrainian government's goal of signing an Association Agreement with the European Union at the Vilnius summit in November and urges Ukraine to fulfill all necessary conditions, including, comprehensive judicial reform.

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issued a respective statement after a number of Ukrainian media reported that the U.S. Department of State representative was allegedly insisting that Tymoshenko should be allowed to participate in Ukraine's presidential race in 2015, which could be regarded as an attempt to intervene in the country's internal affairs.

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