KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's prime minister was summoned by prosecutors for questioning, officials said Monday, in the latest chapter of a power struggle with the president.
Olha Ivaniv, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, said Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is to be questioned Thursday as a witness in the investigation into the 2004 poisoning of President Viktor Yushchenko.
Tymoshenko suggested to reporters that she was being summoned in response to the president's accusations that she had committed high treason in support of Russia.
Once partners in the 2004 Orange Revolution, Tymoshenko and Yushchenko have turned into bitter rivals ahead of 2010 presidential elections. Their struggle has shattered their Western-oriented coalition.
Yushchenko, who firmly condemned Russia's war with Georgia last month, has accused Tymoshenko of siding with Moscow in the conflict.
Yushchenko's office charged in late August that Tymoshenko showed signs "of high treason and political corruption" and said it was handing over materials implicating her to law-enforcement agencies.
Tymoshenko has repeatedly denied such accusations. She says she supports Georgia's territorial integrity, but does not want her country to be dragged into any conflicts.
Yushchenko fell gravely ill during a presidential campaign and was later diagnosed with dioxin poisoning, which badly scarred his face. A nearly four-year investigation has failed to identify a suspect.
AP reporter Olga Bondaruk contributed to this story. |