Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said yesterday (17 October) that he would sign a bill allowing the jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Parliament had already started drafting the bill, Yanukovych said at a meeting with journalists in Svitlohorsk (Donetsk region).

Two years ago, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office in a case described as “selective justice” against a political rival – the incumbent Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych.

The website of the President quotes him saying: "Today [17 October], political forces represented in the Parliament started the process of drafting the law that will solve this issue".

According to Yanukovych, there is no law in Ukraine that would allow Tymoshenko to travel abroad for treatment.

"As soon as the issue is solved in the Parliament and I have the law on my table, you will be able to ask me questions. Certainly, I will sign the law in case the Parliament approves it. Speaking of the mechanisms laid down in the law, probably they will provide [that] the court will decide on the order of the exit procedure with preservation of certain guarantees," Yanukovych said.

"It is difficult for me to talk about it now because I get all the information about the case from you, journalists," he noted.

Tymoshenko’s daughter Yevhenia told Reuters that she expected her mother to leave for Germany by 19 November.

Western EU countries, Germany in particular, have linked her release to the signing of a landmark EU-Ukraine association agreement, which contains a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), which is expected to link Ukraine to the EU market. Russia is putting pressure on Kyiv to join its Customs Union, which is incompatible with the DCFTA.

Enlargement and Neighbourhood Commissioner Štefan Füle has said he expected Ukraine to allow Tymoshenko to go to Germany for medical treatment before the 28-29 November Vilnius summit.