Ukrainian minister gives evidence of almost $3 bln damage done by Timoshenko

Timoshenko said earlier that Neftegaz was a loss-making company in the period before her premiership and showed profit in 2009 when she headed the Ukrainian government.

The court refused to adduce the evidence to the Timoshenko case.

The next hearing is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Moscow time on August 17. It is planned to question as witnesses ex-president Viktor Yushchenko and ex-presidential representative for international energy cooperation Bogdan Sokolovsky.

The court said that Yushchenko would be forced to attend the August 17 session. He will be fined at 500 hryvni (over $60) for not attending the court meeting on Tuesday.

The ex-premier and Batkivshchyna party leader, Timoshenko, is accused of the illegal signing of gas contracts with Russia in 2009. The Prosecutor General's Office said that Timoshenko abused of office and caused more than 1.5 billion hryvni (about $200 million) damage to Ukraine.

Ukraine cannot secede from gas agreements with Russia signed by Yulia Timoshenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov told the court, as he was giving testimony in the Timoshenko case.

"When I read that agreement I could not believe it had been approved by the government. The terms of that document make unilateral secession practically impossible," he said.

The penalty for taking less gas than contracted "is harmful for the national economy," and the pricing formula set for the period of ten years is unprofitable, Azarov said.

"The agreement betrayed the country and caused an increase of public utility charges," he concluded.

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