Tymoshenko agrees to treatment in Ukraine hospital
Ukraine's jailed and ailing ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko agreed Friday to be treated in a local clinic in a move the government hopes could limit an EU boycott of its Euro 2012 football matches. The fiery 2004 Orange Revolution leader's decision -- announced by a German doctor who was allowed to examine her earlier in the day -- comes amid an escalating diplomatic standoff between Kiev and Europe over her case. Ukraine had already refused to launch criminal proceedings over her alleged jail beating while a top newspaper published an extraordinary attack on leading critic Germany in which it compared its policies to those of the Third Reich. Berlin's Charite clinic head Karl Max Einhaeupl earlier visited Tymoshenko at her female penal colony, inspecting her ailing back and checking on the stomach bruises that sparked particular EU concern. "Tymoshenko has given her preliminary agreement to be moved on Tuesday," Einhaeupl read before reporters from joint statement issued with the country's health authorities. Einhaeupl said all sides agreed to Tymoshenko's demand that she be treated by a doctor from Germany who would work with other medics at a state hospital in the eastern city of Kharkiv -- one of Ukraine's four football host venues. "This will be a mutual step that helps resolve the issue," Einhaeupl said. Tymoshenko has complained of debilitating pain since being jailed for seven years in October on controversial charges that EU leaders view as being part of the current government's vendetta against its old foe. But she had also expressed fears of being infected by Ukrainian doctors following the contamination in hospital of a fellow jailed cabinet member and has sought treatment in a German clinic she trusts. Ukraine has refused to let her out of the country and the resulting row has threatened to lead to an EU boycott of football games Ukraine begins co-hosting with Poland on June 8. Tensions with Europe threatened to rise still further when prosecutors refused to launch criminal proceedings over Tymoshenko's alleged beating and said her bruising probably came from her bumping into something instead. "There is no reason to believe that she was punched," Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka told a press briefing. "The evidence proves that what is written in her statement is not true." Tymoshenko claimed to have been manhandled by guards who were moving her to the very clinic she agreed to visit on Friday. She had been on a hunger strike since the April 20 incident but the German doctor gave no immediate indication about her health. The presidents of over half a dozen EU nations had already pulled out of a planned summit in Yalta while the European Union has decided to keep all its commissioners from attending the games Ukraine begins co-hosting with Poland on June 8. France Friday called on Ukrainian leaders to "respect their commitments in terms of fundamental freedoms" and address the situation "in the next few weeks." Ukraine fired back with a shocking editorial in the main pro-government daily that underscored the high emotions running on the eve of the most important event it has hosted since the Soviet era. "Germany again wants to dictate its will over Europe," said the editorial in Segodnya. "They have taken off their masks and it really is the case that the Berlin of 2012 is in no way different from the Berlin of the 1940s." The paper also clearly compared the actions of modern Germany to those of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. "In 1941, the German administration forced Ukrainian girls, naked, into goods wagons bound for Germany. In the 21st century, German customs officials strip Ukrainian workers naked and take all their things away," it charged. "Only the methods have changed."
