Under President Viktor Yanukovych, the Government of Ukraine prosecuted Yulia Tymoshenko and many of her supporters and allies. Yanukovych beat Tymoshenko in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. Foreign observers criticized the prosecutions as politically motivated. Tymoshenko was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014, and was freed shortly before Yanukovych fell from power. Yanukovych subsequently fled to Russia, for which he was convicted in absentia of treason.

Tymoshenko's associates who have been under prosecution since 2010 Since April 2010, a number of criminal cases have been initiated against Yulia Tymoshenko and her associates.

Political persecutions in Ukraine over «members of government and Tymoshenko's associates» were widely discussed in mass media of Ukraine,Another Former Official Finds Asylum Abroad. Johannes Wamberg Andersen. 22 February 2013. Europe, RussiaAttorney General's office came to the officials of Yulia Tymoshenko. Sergiy Sidorenko, site of the newspaper «Kommersant». 24 December 2010. and the USA.Ukraine's Prisoner's Dilemma. Anders Aslund. 31 October 2013.

On 22 April 2010, Yanukovych announced that the General Prosecutor of Ukraine had opened more than 30 criminal cases against members of the previous government. As for October 2011, more than fifteen associates from the Tymoshenko's Cabinet of Ministers have been under prosecution; half of them being on detention for 8–12 months. All of them were, basically, convicted in exceeding office authorities:

1) Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko : «Tymoshenko herself was called in for questioning by authorities on at least nine occasions in December 2010».

2) Minister of Internal Affairs (4 February 2005 — 1 December 2006 and 18 December 2007 — 28 January 2010) — Yuriy Lutsenko.

3) Acting Minister of Defense (June 2009 — March 2010) — Valeriy Ivaschenko.

4) Minister of Finance (18 December 2007 — 11 March 2010) — Bohdan Danylyshyn (Russian pronunciation: «Danilishin»).

5) Minister of Environment Protection (December 2007 — March 2010) — Heorhiy Filipchuk.

6) First Deputy Head of the Minister for Justice (December 2007 — March 2010) — Yevgen Korniychuk.

7–8) Head of the Ukrainian Customs (28 January 2009 — 24 March 2010) — Anatoliy Makarenko. Deputy Head of the Energy Regional Customs — Taras Shepitko.

9–10) Head of the State Treasury of Ukraine (December 2007 — March 2010) — Tetyana Slyuz. First Deputy Head of the State Treasury (September 2009 — April 2010) — Tetyana Gritzun.

11–12) First Deputy Head of «Naftogaz» (state monopoly for oil and gas trading) (6 February 2008 — 24 March 2010) — Igor Didenko, Maria Kushnir — Deputy Chief Accountant of Naftogaz.

13) Minister of Construction (former mayor of Lviv) — Vasyl Kuybida.

14) Governor (Head of State Administration) of Dnipropetrovsk region (a former Minister for Transport and Communications) — Viktor Bondar.

15) Governor of Kharkiv region — Arsen Avakov.

16–18) Also, several former officials were repeatedly interrogated to start a criminal case, namely, First Deputy Prime Oleksandr Turchynov, but the cases have not been opened: «Former First Deputy Prime Oleksandr Turchynov was also called in for questioning at least six times in the last four months of the year (2010)».

Because of the threat of criminal prosecution against their relatives, such known politicians as the leader of Kyiv ByuT branch Anatoliy Semynoga and the leader of «Prosvita» organization Pavlo Movchan had to leave BYuT.(Ukrainian language) 2011 BYT faction lost 11 members. Irina Sharpinska. 6 January 2012.

19) Head of the State Committee on the Material Reserve (a deputy minister of economy), former mayor of Mariupol in 1994–1998 (Donetsk region) — Mykhailo Pozhyvanov. Mykhailo Pozhyvanov has received a permit to live in Austria and has applied for political asylum.

20–27) Suing, also, started against the activists of the «Tax Maidan — 2010» which was held, in close co-operation, by the organization of small-size manufacturers and Tymoshenko's BYuT.

At the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, eight detained representatives of the «Spilna Sparava» (Common Cause) — entrepreneurs who (with the support of Tymoshenko's party) organized a «Tax Maidan».

28–32) On 12 October 2011, the General Procurator's Office of Ukraine announced the intention to resume the criminal cases (closed in 2003–2005 years) against Tymoshenko's relatives (Olexander Tymoshenko, Gennady Tymoshenko) as well as the employees of the UESU corporation Yevgen Shago, Antonina Bolyura, Lydia Sokolchenko (under the UESU case on supply of construction materials to Russia in 1996–1997).

In January 2011, Oleksandr Tymoshenko requested asylum in the Czech Republic due to «increasing pressure being put on the opposition leader through her family» and 6 January 2011 Oleksandr Tymoshenko granted Czech asylum.Husband of Ukraine's ‘Orange Revolution’ leader Yulia Tymoshenko granted Czech asylum. Site «Szech.position.com», 6 Jan. 2011.

33) In November 2012, the Procurator's Office informed about the criminal cases opened against the well-known ex-Deputy from the BYuT faction Andriy Shkil (a supporter of Ukrainian nationalist organizations UNA-UNSO and, also, one of the organizers of the protest action «Ukraine without Kuchma» held in March 2001. In December 2012, Shkil had to leave Ukraine for the Czech Republic.

34–36) Criminal cases were also started against a number of candidates for city mayors from the Batkivschina Party at the local elections in 2010. After the local election 2010, the Mayors of the cities of Zaporizhia, Kremenchuk, Novomoskovsk (and others) who had been elected from the «Batkivshchyna», were so heavily pressed that they had to leave the Party and claim their non-party belonging, otherwise they could not be given possibility to do their jobs.

Assessment in Russia The president and the prime minister of Russia also made a number of statements concerning the «politically motivated trial on Yulia Tymoshenko»; also, on 11 October 2011 the Russian Foreign Ministry officially said (see the site of the Foreign Ministry of Russia): «We cannot ignore the fact that leaders of many countries as well as world public take the whole of the judicial process as initiated, exclusively, by political motives».(Russian language) Russia's Foreign Ministry

Director of the Ukrainian affiliate of the Institute of CIS states (The Russian national institution for investigation of the CIS problems) Vladymir Kornilov pointed out that if Kyiv continue to ignore the EU, Russia and the US concerns about the "case of Yulia Tymoshenko" it could happen that Brussels would treat Ukraine like yet another Belarus».

Assessment in US

On 5 October 2010, in Kyiv, Drago Kos, the president of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), stated he saw no improvements in the country's anticorruption efforts since the Yanukovych government took office.

On 30 December 2010, the US State Department notified the Ukrainian authorities on its concern about the cases against the Tymoshenko's team pointing out that «prosecution should not be either selective or politically motivated».The Financial Times: «US warns Ukraine over opposition arrests». By Roman Olearchyk in Kiev, 30 December 2010.

On 24 June 2011, the US State Department stated that the trial of Tymoshenko was a politically motivated process according to figures from the opposition.

Responses as for Tymoshenko sentence (after 11 October 2011) On 11 October 2011 (on the day of Tymoshenko verdict), the US Presidential Administration called on «to release Yu. Tymoshenko as well as other political leaders and former government officials».«The United States is deeply disappointed with the conviction and sentencing of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko through a politically motivated prosecution». The White House, USA. Office of the Press Secretary. 11 October 2011.US calls for release of Tymoshenko, Kyiv Post (11 October 2011)

On 13 October 2011, Co-Head of the US Congress group of support for Ukraine Marcy Kaptur registered the draft resolution on «persecution of the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and her associates». «The U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee passed the draft of the resolution authored by James Inhofe (R-OK) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) on 19 September… The resolution suggested that the State Department introduce a visa ban on those responsible for her imprisonment and that the State Department and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) apply pressure on Yanukovych to release Tymoshenko… Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded Tymoshenko's release early this year, so the resolution reflects the views of the Obama administration and not only the views of its authors».Kyiv Claims US Senate Resolution on Tymoshenko Not Serious. Oleg Varfolomeyev. 26 September 2012.

22 January 2013 in a letter to Tymoshenko U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: «I … want to reaffirm that the United States supports your immediate release. I hope the New year brings new prospects for your release and wish you a return to good health».

Overall assessment of the situation in Ukraine in 2010–2013 1 February 2013 former U.S. Ambassadors to Ukraine (William Green Miller — 1993–1998, Steven Pifer — 1998–2000, John Herbst — 2003–2006) recommend the new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not to meet with Viktor Yanukovych and insist on Kyiv's compliance with democratic standards.

Ukraine is «slipping into authoritarianism», are contained in the new report «Assessment of risks around the world», which the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper presented to the U.S. Senate.

Media have repeatedly reported that «Yanukovych regime» is actively using lobbyists in the EU-USA,The Yanukovych Administration's image in the West is made by Americans. Oleksandr Mykhelson. 14 March 2011. probably why, to date, to the regime of Yanukovych did not apply any sanctions by the EU and the U.S. «The Economist» wrote about the political situation in Ukraine (April 2013): «With Viktor Yanukovych, a thuggish president, in charge and his arch-rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, in jail, Ukraine is clearly not a democracy. But it is not a dictatorship either… Oligarchs treat Ukraine as a cash cow… According to the Ukrainian edition of Forbes, companies linked to ten beneficiaries win 60% of all government contracts. The leader of the Forbes list is Alexander Yanukovych, the president's elder son… But politically Mr Yanukovych is not as strong as he seems… His defeat was most striking in Kyiv where the ruling party (Party of Regions) got under 13% of the vote (in October's parliamentary elections-2012)».

Assessment of criminal cases of Tymoshenko's associates in EU On 13 January 2011, the Czech Republic «granted an asylum» to ex-Minister for economics Bohdan Danylyshyn.

Assessment in the United Kingdom On 22 June 2010 (just before the beginning of the trial of Tymoshenko), British Ambassador in Ukraine Leigh Tuner gave an interview to the Day newspaper in which he warned the Ukrainian authorities against persecution of the opposition: «We are carefully watching the development of criminal prosecution of the former government officials…we are concerned about the allegedly political grounds lying these criminal cases…. By presently, we have clearly defined to the Ukrainian authorities that whatever selectivity and inadequacy in exercising legal prosecutions might significantly, and for a long term, spoil the international image of Ukraine».

Six Resolution of Europarliament on cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and other officials of former government Within the period of 2010–2012, the European Parliament adopted six

resolutions as regards the criminal cases of Tymoshenko and her associates.