Lawyer's arrest worsens Ukraine crisis

The arrest this week of the lawyer to jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has made it less likely that the country will sign trade and political co-operation deals with the EU.

Arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko's lawyer Denis Kuvaev

Serhiy Vlasenko was arrested when prosecutors began a criminal investigation into him, accusing him of wife-beating. EU diplomats are seeing this move as another sign that Kiev does not have the political will necessary to make the compromises deemed vital to the signing of the deals which come up for final agreement in Vilnius on November 28. The EU has been trying to persuade the Kiev government to let Ms Tymoshenko go to Germany for medical treatment. But intransigence on this point, followed by the arrest of her lawyer, suggests that the necessary steps to compromise will not be made in time. Source: BBC

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