NATO says Tymoshenko's vercit "disappointing"

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu on Thursday said a Ukraine court's decision on Tuesday to jail former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was "disappointing," and that it could hamper Ukraine's ties with the military alliance. "This is a disappointing decision. As President Yanukovych has stated this is not the end of the process, so we hope that solution can be found on the basis of the rule of law," Lungescu told reporters in Brussels. "You can expect that allies will be looking very closely at the verdict and will take it into account when they start their assessment of Ukraine's national annual program towards the end of this month. They will be looking at the state of reforms in Ukraine, including at justice reforms," she said. In December 2008, NATO decided to work out an annual program for Ukraine that were yearning for NATO membership, to help the country implement required reforms. However, Ukraine's bid for NATO membership was suspended following Viktor Yanukovych won the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. Yanukovych opted to keep Ukraine a non-aligned state. Tymoshenko was the central figure in the 2004 mass protests, or the so-called Orange Revolution, during which current President Viktor Yanukovich was forced to give up the post of president. A Ukrainian court on Tuesday sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison after convicting her of abuse of power for signing a 2009 gas deal with Russia, which according to the judge, caused Ukraine to lose 190 million U.S. dollars. According to the court, Tymoshenko can appeal the sentence in the country's Court of Appeals within 15 days.