KIEV, Jan. 25 – Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the largest opposition party in Ukraine, on Tuesday was denied by the authorities a request to attend a meeting with European politicians in Brussels next month.

Tymoshenko is under investigation for alleged abuse of power when she was prime minister in 2009, a charge that she has denied. She said the investigation is politically motivated.

Because of the ongoing investigation, Tymoshenko’s ability to travel is restricted by prosecutors, which means she needs to get permission if she wants to leave the city of Kiev.

“I received a denial to my request to let me go to Brussels for working meetings with leaders of the European Union,” Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko said the prosecutors denied the request because the invitation to visit Brussels was written in English. She said she will try again after submitting a special translation of the invitation.

Tymoshenko lost the presidential election to Viktor Yanukovych in February 2010, and quickly became the target of a criminal investigation.

The investigation intensified after Tymoshenko visited Brussels and used her meetings with European leaders to publicly criticize Yanukovych for weakening and dismantling democracy in Ukraine.

After one such trip, an anonymous caller phoned Tymoshenko and told her that she will “cough up blood” unless she stops criticizing Yanukovych internationally.

SBU security service was not able to track down the phone caller, and suggested that the reported phone call might have been a fake.

But the investigation of Tymosenko accelerated, with authorities now asking her not to leave the city of Kiev for the time of investigation.

“The fact hat the Prosecutor General [Viktor] Pshonka refused to let me go to Brussels is just another sign of somewhat weird fear that Yanukovych has and that all of his subordinates catch,” Tymoshenko said.

“The fear that the world will learn what is happening in Ukraine,” Tymoshenko said. “The fear that he [Yanukovych] will lose his power and the fear to be responsible for what he’s doing today.”

The U.S. government warned Ukraine in December 2010 that the latest investigations against opposition figures in Ukraine may be politically motivated. (tl/ez)