KIEV, Nov. 16 – The European Union may cancel a planned summit with Ukraine next month, postponing indefinitely free trade and political agreements, a newswire reported Wednesday, citing a source at the Polish EU Presidency.

The warning may materialize if the Ukrainian authorities refuse to release opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for negotiating a controversial natural gas deal with Russia.

“Such scenario is possible, but will depend on development of internal situation in Ukraine,” Unian reported, citing the source.

This is the first time that the possibility of cancelling the summit has been raised by a European official, reflecting persistent and defiant position of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and German President Christian Wulff on Tuesday tried, but failed to persuade Yanukovych to release Tymoshenko, even that the issue may hamper Ukraine’s further European integration.

Yanukovych emerged defiant after the meeting with Komorowski and Wulff in Wroclaw, telling reporters that Tymoshenko will face new criminal charges, some of which date back 15 years ago.

The developments may be underscoring Ukraine’s shifting foreign policy priorities after the government had signed a free trade agreement with Russia and six other former Soviet nations last month.

The government also agreed to pay for Russian gas supplies with Russian rubles - a turnover that may be worth about $20 billion annually - making a step closer towards a possible currency union with Russia.

Ukraine is also about to sign a new natural gas agreement with Russia that will anticipate lower natural gas prices that opposition lawmakers fear may come at the expense of serious political concessions.

Although talks over the free trade and political association agreements were finished, Yanukovych and his government have been insisting on an extremely unlikely wording that would de-facto guarantee Ukraine’s future membership in the EU.

This may be a sign that Yanukovych has been seeking an excuse for not signing the EU agreements next month.

Yanukovych on Wednesday said that signing the agreements was not “an end in itself.”

“The European integration for Ukraine is not a tribute to fashion and is not an end in itself,” Yanukovych told local bureaucrats at a meeting in Kiev, according to a report by presidential press service. “This a task aimed first of all at modernization of our country, its reformation.” (tl/ez)