Russia Lifts Arrest Warrant for Ukraine Ex-PM

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian prosecutors said on Monday they had lifted an arrest warrant on Ukrainian former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko after she voluntarily turned up for questioning.

Russian authorities, who suspect her of trying to bribe defence ministry officials in the 1990s, suspended the warrant when Tymoshenko became premier, but restated it after Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sacked her earlier this month.

However, the Russian Prosecutor General's office said on Monday it had withdrawn the warrant again.

"Such a decision was made because this weekend she (Tymoshenko) voluntarily turned up in the main military prosecutor's office and gave the evidence requested by investigators," it said in a statement.

Tymoshenko's spokeswoman confirmed the former prime minister was in Moscow on the weekend but gave no further details.

Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of the "Orange Revolution" that overturned the Moscow-backed establishment and brought the pro-Western Yushchenko to power, had denied any wrongdoing.

She has described the arrest warrant, issued in the middle of the Orange Revolution as an instrument of Moscow's pressure on Ukraine.

Yushchenko sacked his former ally this month to end a row over high-level corruption that had divided the leadership.

Source: Reuters