"All conscious Ukrainians should be up in arms against this. If Ukraine allows this, then we can say that we along with civil society, the so-called elites and media are hostages in a dirty game against Ukraine and its people," Yulia Tymoshenko said at a press conference today.
According to her, this measure will triple the budget deficit and lead Naftohaz Ukrainy to bankruptcy.
"Naftohaz will go bankrupt and as a result Ukraine will lose its gas transport system and all other key state-owned facilities. Moreover, every citizen will feel the direct burden of this payment," she added.
"In the opinion of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine is being deprived of $5.4 billion – an amount that in this budget is 15% of the Pension Fund. In other words, if this money is not given to RosUkrEnergo, pensions could be increased 15% for all seniors, and if the government and president don’t want to increase pensions, they could increase salaries for public employees by 40%," she said.
Yulia Tymoshenko added that a copy of the IMF letter will be sent to the anti-corruption council chaired by Viktor Yanukovych. "I hope the anti-corruption council chaired by the president of Ukraine reviews the letter we will send them today and puts a stop to this – that is if they have an iota of conscience and sense of responsibility for Ukraine."
