KIEV, Nov. 2 - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in prison for negotiating a controversial natural gas contract with Russia, called on European Union leaders Wednesday to continue cooperation with Ukraine despite her arrest.

In an emotional letter from her jail cell, Tymoshenko urged Brussels to "ignore the actions of Ukraine's criminal authorities" and still proceed with the signing of a landmark association agreement with Kiev, which the EU has warned it could scrap in protest of her imprisonment.