BRUSSELS – The EU's president has told the premier of Ukraine to stay away from a joint meeting next week because of the imprisonment of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Herman Van Rompuy told a Euronews program Wednesday that even though Mykola Azarov announced he would come to Brussels for an EU-Ukraine meeting, "we said 'stay home.'"
Relations between the 27-nation bloc and Ukraine have steadily worsened over human rights complaints and specifically the treatment of Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who is serving a seven-year jail term on abuse of office charges.
Leading EU officials have already said they will boycott all matches of the Euro 2012 football tournament that are played in Ukraine next month.
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