KIEV, Sept. 22 – Arseniy Yatseniuk, a popular former parliamentary speaker, on Thursday demanded an immediate meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych to speed up approval of legislation that would release former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

At the meeting, Yatseniuk also wants to focus on alleged attempts by the government to “falsify” election law, and progress in talks over free trade and political association deals with the European Union.

“Opposition demands the immediate meeting with the president to discuss the three issues,” Yatseniuk said at a press conference in Parliament.

Yanukovych on Thursday completed his visit to New York where he had participated in the United Nations’ General Assembly, and had a number of meetings with political figures and business leaders.

Yatseniuk, who recent opinion polls show may be the only Ukrainian politician capable of defeating Yanukovych in a runoff election, said the meeting was needed to clarify Yanukovych’s stance on the release of Tymoshenko.

Yanukovych has apparently promised European leaders last week that he had been willing to submit legislation to Parliament that would allow releasing Tymoshenko from custody.

But pro-Yanukovych lawmakers on Monday suddenly refused to support the amendments at a meeting with opposition groups, forcing Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to postpone the amendments for at least a week.

The lack of support from the pro-Yanukovych lawmakers suggests the authorities may not be willing to release Tymoshenko just yet.

In an interview with the Associated Press in New York earlier this week, Yanukovych declined to speculate on when the new amendments might become effective or if that would affect the outcome of the Tymoshenko prosecution.

“It’s difficult for me to foresee or forecast the court’s ruling and our subsequent actions will depend on that,” Yanukovych said.

Tymoshenko was arrested on August 5 and is currently on a trial for ordering Naftogaz Ukrayiny to sign a controversial 10-year natural gas agreement with Gazprom, apparently setting too high prices for gas Ukraine needs to pay.

Tymoshenko denied the charges and said the trial was the trial was orchestrated by Yanukovych to keep her out of political life.

The charges against Tymoshenko, who allegedly abused her powers when signing a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009, are widely viewed in Europe and the United States as politically motivated. Prosecutors say she violated legal procedures when the deal was signed.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton together with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton sent Yanukovych a letter regarding the Tymoshenko trial earlier this month, according to an EU official. Neither side has disclosed what was in the letter.

“We categorically reject such allegations,” Yanukovych said, when asked if the prosecution of Tymoshenko was politically motivated.

Yanukovych instead said the country’s code of criminal procedures was under revision for the first time since 1962, when Ukraine was a republic of the former Soviet Union. The president said he understood the code needed revision as Ukraine seeks integration with the European Union and that many things now considered to be criminal acts should not be when the laws are rewritten.

The Tymoshenko trial is expected to resume on September 27, according to a ruling by Judge Rodion Kireyev earlier this month.

Yatseniuk has been competing Tymoshenko for the same voters in western and central regions of Ukraine, and some said may actually benefit if Tymoshenko is barred from the upcoming election in October 2012.

Other opposition leaders, such as Anatoliy Hrytsenko, a former defense minister, criticized Yatseniuk’s initiative seeking the meeting with the president as an attempt to display himself as the leader of the united opposition force.

“If he has decided to go to Bankova Street, let him go. The way is open,” Hrytsenko said, adding that he was not authorized by other opposition parties.

“If Yatseniuk will keep acting as he does now, and will keep speaking as the leader of the opposition, as he claims to be, I am afraid he will have no chances” of securing the parties’ support, Hrytsenko said. (tl/ez)