KIEV, March 25 – The battleground of Ukrainian politics is increasingly shifting to Brussels as both government officials and opposition leaders have been courting European politicians.

At stake is the progress that Ukraine may or may not make towards creating a political association and free trade zone with the European Union.

As the government of President Viktor Yanukovych struggles to make significant progress in talks with the EU, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has used her trip to Brussels to attack Yanukovych for building “authoritarian rule.”

Tymoshenko, who met a number of European politicians in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, said the political association and free trade talks will be linked to issues like democracy, rule of law and freedom of speech.

“If the Ukrainian government will continue to destroy freedoms and rights of people, democracy, rule of law and freedom of speech, one cannot count on making progress in visa-free travel, free trade and an agreement on political association,” Tymoshenko said.

The European People’s Party, one of Europe’s most powerful political groups, on Thursday warned Ukraine that free trade talks may be damaged because the country has been “marching backward.”

“I am grateful that the EU has heard me,” Tymoshenko said on Friday.

But the next day, on Saturday, Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko and Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev, who is in charge of the talks with the EU, also traveled to Brussels to share they side of the story.

“We are a moment now that we have to make decisions, both on the part of the EU and on our part,” Hryshchenko told Unian news agency in Brussels. “We are talking about a pack of documents that is acceptable from the point of view of balancing interests, both economic interests and promoting our European integration aspirations.”

Kliuyev, who met Stefan Fule, the EU commissioner for enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy, said that Ukraine has been seeking to reach the agreement before the end of the year.

Kliuyev said that Ukraine was ready for compromises concerning the free trade agreement, but added that the EU must have a flexible position and avoid ultimatums.

Tymoshenko’s travel has been essentially restricted since the middle of December 2010 due to the investigation, and she had been twice denied by the authorities the ability to go to Brussels for meetings with European leaders.

US Senator John McCain and European People's Party President Wilfried Martens jointly urged the Ukrainian authorities earlier this month to let Tymoshenko leave for the political meeting in Brussels.

McCain and Martens signed the statement days after US Vice President Joe Biden, in a phone call with President Yanukovych, voiced concerns over “selective prosecution” of opposition politicians. (tl/ez)