US Senate to consider draft resolution calling for release of Tymoshenko

"The Senate condemns the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych for the politically motivated imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko," reads the document.

According to the draft resolution, the U.S. Senate calls on the Yanukovych administration to release Tymoshenko immediately for medical reasons and urges the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe not to recognize Ukraine’s scheduled 2013 chairmanship of the Organization until the release of Tymoshenko.

"The Senate urges the Department of State to withdraw the United States Ambassador to Ukraine and suspend operations at the United States Embassy in Kyiv until the release of Tymoshenko," reads the draft resolution.

In addition, the Senate calls on the Department of State to institute a visa ban against President Yanukovych, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, and other officials responsible for Tymoshenko’s imprisonment, and calls on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to suspend all cooperative agreements with Ukraine and place Ukraine on indefinite probation with regard to its Distinctive Partnership with the Organization until the release of Tymoshenko.