KIEV, Jan. 12 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday attacked his political rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by citing a Moscow court verdict that had allegedly charged her for bribing Russian generals in 1996.

Tymoshenko, who then owned a $10 billion natural gas trader United Energy Systems, apparently concluded a deal in 1996 to supply $750 million worth of goods to the Russian army at artificially high prices.

“Tymoshenko is charged with organizing bribes to Russian Defense Ministry officials in September and November 1996 in Dnipropetrovsk through a middleman in Moscow,” Yushchenko read from a specially prepared paper at a press conference.

“The [Moscow] court ruled that Tymoshenko must be detained and kept in custody,” Yushchenko said, reading the ruling.

Tymoshenko, jointly with opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, is one of the main contenders for the post of the president at the election due on January 17.

Tymoshenko has repeatedly attacked Yanukovych for his alleged jail sentences, in 1969 and in 1970, and the disclosure of Tymoshenko’s own problems with law enforcement may play a role at the election, analysts said.

Tymoshenko’s party reacted quickly by accusing Yushchenko of being “an agent of Yanukovych on black PR.”

The Russian law enforcement agencies are known to have issued an arrest warrant against Tymoshenko in early 2000s through Interpol, but had later suspended the action.

Tymoshenko is thought to have traveled to Moscow late 2005 for a meeting with Vladimir Putin, then the Russian president, seeking to quietly settle the case.

“Due to the deal with Putin, the charges have been changed and [suggested] jail time has been reduced,” Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a member of the Tymoshenko group in Parliament, said in an interview with Publichniye Liudi, or Public People, magazine. “That’s why she did not get to jail.”

“So now Tymoshenko is on the hook of Putin, who has serious compromising material against her,” Omelchenko said. “It’s dangerous that a presidential candidate is in such way dependent on the head of Russia.”

Omelchenko has fallen out with Tymoshenko earlier this year after he had accused several Tymoshenko lawmakers of pedophilia. The case is being investigated by police.

Meanwhile, Yushchenko said the Kremlin may have used the 1996 bribery case as a tool to force Tymoshenko to accept a controversial natural gas agreement in 2009 that sets extremely high gas prices for Ukraine.

“It is easy to get from the criminal case to the gas agreement in 2009,” Yushchenko said.

Yanukovych on Monday rejected the idea of live televised debates with Tymoshenko apparently amid fears that Tymoshenko would attack him on his former jail sentences.

The charges announced on Tuesday would make Tymoshenko and Yanukovych even, or perhaps could make Yanukovych, who was apparently jailed for robbery and assault, look better.

“If you compare who has caused bigger harm for Ukraine, Yanukovych or Tymoshenko, this is not comparable,” Omelchenko said. “Yanukovych’s crimes have cost pennies for the country, while Tymoshenko has stolen billions of hryvnias and has caused major harm for the national security.” (tl/ez)