KIEV, July 25 — Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on trial for her controversial natural gas deal with Russia in 2009, called on the European Union to sign without delay a free-trade and association agreement with Ukraine.

Tymoshenko made the comments hours after the EU had indicated that the former prime minister’s trial is not an issue at ongoing negotiations over free trade and political association.

“I ask you to under no circumstances tie up counteraction to political repressions, counteraction to criminal persecution with signing of the agreement on political association and the free trade,” Tymoshenko said after a court session on Monday.

This is a turnaround in Tymoshenko’s position as she is believed to have repeatedly pressed leaders in Brussels to delay any political deal with Ukraine until the government improves its record with democracy.

The developments come after a debate sparked on July 19 by an editorial at the Financial Times suggesting that Brussels must postpone the talks with Ukraine over the free trade and association agreement because of the Tymoshenko trial.

In response to the editorial, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official on July 21 rejected the idea, suggesting the Tymoshenko trial is a criminal investigation, not a political one.

Tymoshenko’s comments underscore a change in her strategy as so far she has been seeking to secure pressure from Brussels on the Ukrainian authorities for stopping the criminal investigation against her.

But her strategy, however, did not produce much success. Domestically it failed to spark massive protests, while internationally it did not generate serious and continuous pressure on the government, which had denied allegations of political persecution of opposition.

Ukraine is currently holding negotiations with the EU seeking to sign the agreement on free trade and political association, and has been making progress, according to people familiar with the issue.

The agreement may be initialed at a Ukraine-EU summit before the end of the year, and may be followed with the official signing next year.

After the agreement is signed, it must be ratified by parliaments of each country that is a member of the EU, and that may be a lengthy process, the people said.

Meanwhile, Russia has been resorting to massive political and economic pressure on Ukraine to try to avert Kiev’s free trade accord with Brussels.

Instead, Moscow has suggested that Kiev should join the Customs Union, a trade bloc that includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

To make its point, Moscow has been gradually introducing a number of trade restrictions against Ukrainian goods so far this year, and had recently threatened to attack Ukraine’s steel exports.

Moscow also refused to negotiate lower natural gas prices for Ukraine, again insisting that Kiev should become a member of its trade bloc.

Ukraine has been seeking to negotiate lower gas prices ever since Viktor Yanukovych was elected the president, defeating Tymoshenko at the election in February 2010.

The gas prices that Russia is charging Ukraine appear to be some of the highest in Europe, according to the gas deal that Tymoshenko had negotiated with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in January 2009.

Now, the authorities insist that Tymoshenko, as the prime minister in 2009, exceeded her authority by ordering to sign the deal without securing an approval from the entire Cabinet of Ministers.

Tymoshenko rejected the charges, and said Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, did not need to receive any special instructions from the government, and as a business entity had the right to sign the agreement with Russia’s Gazprom. (tl/ez)