KIEV, Ukraine, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should appear before a court in Kiev in a corruption case against a former leader, a former Ukrainian president said.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told a court Wednesday it would be "impossible" to uncover the truth in the case against opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko unless Putin appeared in court, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Tymoshenko faces corruption charges stemming from a natural gas deal she helped broker with Russia in 2009.
She, along with Yushchenko, led the country's Orange Revolution in 2004 though both leaders have since fallen out of favor.
Tymoshenko in written statements to The Independent newspaper in London said the charges against her are politically motivated, a claim backed by Washington. She wrote that it was "strange" she was under examination while President Viktor Yanukovych "a twice-convicted felon" is able to enjoy political life.
Yushchenko added that Gazprom chief Alexei Miller should testify as well. The former president, the Russian account stated, said Tymoshenko moved too quickly in signing a gas deal with Gazprom, a deal the Ukrainian government said resulted in huge financial loss.
