KIEV, Sept. 11 — Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on trial in Kiev over charges stemming from the natural gas agreement with Russia she concluded in 2009, called on the European Union to reject an important and trade and political agreement with Ukraine.

President Viktor Yanukovych, withstanding increasing pressure from Russia, has been seeking to sign a free trade and political association agreement with the EU before the end of the year.

Tymoshenko, in an interview with Times daily, said this would be “playing into the hands of Yanukovych and his gang,” according to a statement released by Tymoshenko’s website.

“They want you to believe that authoritarian rule that he has introduced is the best that Ukraine can offer,” Tymoshenko said. “They want the world to close its eyes on the death of Ukrainian democracy, so that they can get to their business as usual.”

This is the second time that Tymoshenko has drastically changed her position on the issue, which is supposed to pave the way for Ukraine’s eventual economic integration into the EU.

Tymoshenko, during her visits to Brussels earlier this year, has been calling on European leaders to postpone the important agreements with Ukraine on the ground that Yanukovych has allegedly restricted democracy.

But after the EU indicated on July 25 that it would probably go ahead with signing the agreements, Tymoshenko had immediately reacted that the EU must sign the agreements without delay.

“I ask you to under no circumstances to tie up counteraction to political repressions, counteraction to criminal persecution with signing of the agreements on political association and the free trade,” Tymoshenko then said.

But now Tymoshenko suggested that Ukraine can only accept true European standards under “proper leadership.”

“Ukraine is an indispensable part of Europe,” Tymoshenko said in the interview with Time. “Under proper leadership we will live by European standards of political and economic life.”

Meanwhile, Russia has been putting a tremendous pressure on Ukraine seeking to force the country scrap its free trade and political association agreement talks with EU and to instead join a Moscow-led trade bloc, known as the Customs Union.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev rejected a proposal from Yanukovych that Ukraine cooperate only on certain issues with the Customs Union, while pressed for a full-fledged membership, which would automatically scrap Ukraine’s talks with the EU.

Medvedev also warned that Ukraine will face severe trade sanctions if Kiev chooses to go ahead towards the integration with the EU.

In an article written for The Wall Street Journal last month, Yanukovych said that his long-term goal is to get Ukraine towards the membership in the European Union.

Tymoshenko is on trial for forcing Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national energy company, to sign a 10-year gas agreement with Russia’s Gazprom without proper approval of the deal by the government.

A half of the government has refused to approve the controversial agreement setting high gas prices for Ukraine, but Tymoshenko had issued instructions allowing Naftogaz to sign the deal.

The authorities believe Tymoshenko has broken the law by seeking to bypass the approval of the government, and that had caused massive economic losses for the economy.

Tymoshenko denied the wrongdoing and said the trial is politically motivated to eliminate her as Yanukovych’s political rival. (tl/ez)