Tymoshenko Defends Decision Not To Fight Over Crimea, Attacks Minsk Process

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is a leading candidate in the country's March 31 presidential election, has defended her support for Kyiv's 2014 decision not to use military force to resist Russia's annexation of the Black Sea region of Crimea. Tymoshenko said that if elected she would reject the Minsk process for resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine and launch a new process guided by the terms of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. In an interview with RFE/RL in Kyiv on March 18, Tymoshenko also slammed incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – also a candidate -- accusing him of embezzling "the defense budget through illegal deals with the aggressor [Russia]" and calling on him to resign, a demand she has expressed before.