EU denied visit to Tymoshenko

The European Union's ambassador to Ukraine has been barred from visiting the country's former premier, Yulia Tymoshenko, in a hospital where she is being treated.

The opposition leader Ms Tymoshenko, 51, is serving a seven-year sentence on charges of abuse of office that have been condemned by the West as politically motivated. She is being treated for a spinal condition in a clinic in the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Security guards prevented the EU ambassador, José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, from entering her ward, saying he lacked the required prison permission.

AP