Issue of Tymoshenko can be resolved solely within laws existing in Ukraine, says Yanukovych

The issue of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko can be resolved solely within the existing Ukrainian law, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said.

"In any case, the Tymoshenko issue can be resolved solely within the law existing in Ukraine," Yanukovych said in Vienna on Thursday when answering reporters' question, when Ukraine intended to implement the conditions of the European Union and to release the former prime minister.

The issue of Tymoshenko's release is too large-scale and it is impossible to resolve it quickly, the president said.

As a democratic country, Ukraine should respect justice, that is why the issue of the former prime minister's release should be resolved firstly within the law, Yanukovych said.

"This is such a figure in Ukrainian politics [Tymoshenko], who came across law violations during various times," the president said. It concerns the cases opened by the previous authorities of the country, he said.

"Issues, on which Ukraine sustained losses, exist," he said.

Tymoshenko did not come to her court hearings over 20 times, so she was virtually blocking justice, Yanukovych said. This is why now when the Tymoshenko issue is being considered in the Ukrainian parliament, many contradictions between factions and certain deputies emerge, he said.

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada did not support a single bill out of the six on Thursday, submitted on the agenda for allowing treating the former prime minister abroad. None of the six bills managed to get over 195 votes because the factions of the Party of Regions and the Ukrainian Communist Party refrained from voting.