KIEV, Aug. 10 – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss the arrest of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko among other issues at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, a news agency reported citing a source.

President Viktor Yanukovych will travel to Sochi, Russia, on Thursday for the meeting with Medvedev, almost two weeks after the Russian president had cancelled his previously scheduled trip to Ukraine.

“Moscow has informed Kiev of its intention to include this issue to the agenda,” Interfax-Ukraine reported, citing an unidentified source familiar with the situation. “It is absolutely obvious that Russia has moved to desperately defend the gas agreements and the fate of its important political ally.”

Russia, together with the U.S. and the European Union, has been one of the most vocal critics of the Tymoshenko arrest, insisting that the controversial gas agreement had been signed according to both countries’ legislation.

Yanukovych, as well as Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, have repeatedly criticized the gas agreement, signed in January 2009, as extremely unfavorable for Ukraine and benefiting Russian gas company Gazprom.

The U.S. government issued two official statements since Friday urging Ukraine to consider an immediate release of Tymoshenko amid signs of “politically motivated prosecution.”

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, in his own statement on Monday, said the arrest of Tymoshenko may “distract Ukraine from difficult work ahead in its efforts to join the European Union.”

Ukrainian officials have so far insisted that the arrest has not made its more difficult for the government to hold talks with the EU.

But Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tyhypko, in an interview with Handelsblatt, admitted that the arrest has complicated the talks, Deutsche Welle reported on Wednesday.

Andriy Honcharuk, the head of the foreign relations department at the presidential administration, said Wednesday sought to downplay the possibility that Tymoshenko’s arrest will be on the agenda.

He said Yanukovych and Medvedev will discuss a range of issues, including trade and economic projects, as well as implementation of infrastructure projects ahead of Euro 2012 soccer championship that Ukraine will host, and Russia’s preparation for hosting Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

“First of all, we’re talking about further building up of mutual trade and economic cooperation and implementation of joint projects,” Honcharuk said at a press conference. (tl/ez)