Tymoshenko accused of embezzlement

The Ukrainian security service started a new criminal case against Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday, accusing her of attempting to embezzle $405 million during the 1990s, RIA Novosti cites a source in the Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies.

The case relates to an investigation into a $405-million debt owed to the Russian Defense Ministry by Ukrainian United Energy Systems, which was headed by Tymoshenko in the 1990s.

“Yulia Tymoshenko, being the president and actually the owner of the United Energy Systems, has been charged with carrying out an attempt to embezzle funds from the Ukrainian budget under a preliminary agreement with then-Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko,” RIA Novosti cites the head of the Ukrainian security service’s main investigative department, Ivan Derevyanko, as saying.