Tymoshenko: NABU recordings are from talks with pressured MP Kopytin
Opposition lawmaker Yulia Tymoshenko stated that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine recorded fragments of her conversation with MP Ihor Kopytin, according to the broadcast of the meeting.
“We carefully studied the time indicated in the protocols. I meet with hundreds of lawmakers — that is part of my parliamentary work. Now we have put all these pieces together, and I can say that this meeting was with Mr. Kopytin. This is an MP. I want to comment on this: Mr. Kopytin, who is encrypted here as ‘Mazur,’ is not just an MP — there is a case against this MP in NABU. And he is under pressure from NABU to essentially carry out certain instructions,” she said.
Tymoshenko explained that MP Kopytin “kept asking” for meetings with her and said he “no longer wants to be in the Servant of the People faction,” so he proposed cooperation.
She believes “Kopytin was interested in closing his case” and, “to free himself from criminal liability, handed NABU [the recordings] so that they could be compiled and presented in a way that does not correspond to reality.”
Tymoshenko stated that she does not recall discussing money in her conversations with the lawmaker. She described the publication of the wiretap recordings, which she considers a “compilation,” as a “provocation.”
“This is simply a person who was protecting his life and saving himself from a proven crime, in this way framing the person NABU needed to compromise,” Tymoshenko said about Kopytin.
Background
On Tuesday evening, anti-corruption agencies announced they had exposed Batkivshchyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko for allegedly offering bribes to MPs for voting for or against specific bills.
Law enforcement released a portion of a conversation between Tymoshenko and an unnamed parliamentarian discussing personnel decisions. They also found messages from the politician indicating that the instructions regarding appointments concerned the latest government changes — the appointments of Mykhailo Fedorov and Denys Shmyhal to new positions — as well as the dismissal of Vasyl Maliuk from the post of SBU head.
Tymoshenko confirmed media reports about searches at her political party’s office but rejected all accusations.
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