# Yulia Tymoshenko **Yulia Tymoshenko** is a two-time Ukrainian prime minister whose 2011 imprisonment under [[Viktor Yanukovych]] became the occasion for one of [[Paul Manafort]]'s most consequential U.S. influence projects: a [[Skadden]] report on her trial that was secretly paid for through Manafort. ## Career Tymoshenko was prime minister in 2005 and again from December 2007 to March 2010, and lost the February 2010 presidential runoff to Yanukovych, 45.47% to 48.95%. ## Imprisonment and the Skadden report On October 11, 2011 a Kyiv court sentenced her to seven years for abuse of office over a 2009 gas deal with Russia; the EU's Catherine Ashton called it "selective" justice. In 2012 Ukraine's Justice Ministry commissioned Skadden, with Greg Craig as lead, to review the trial. The official fee was $12,000; Skadden in fact received about $4.6 million routed through Manafort's Cypriot account (Kyiv Post, citing Mueller filings, put the total above $5 million, mostly from an unnamed oligarch). The report found she had been denied counsel at critical stages but that her conviction was supported by evidence. In January 2019 Skadden paid $4.6 million and registered under [[FARA]]. ## Later career She ran second in the 2014 presidential election and third in 2019 (13.4%), and has been a Rada deputy since November 2014. ## 2026 bribery case In January 2026 Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies served her a notice of suspicion for allegedly offering MPs payments — reportedly $10,000 a month — for their votes; the High Anti-Corruption Court set bail at UAH 33 million (about $761,000). She calls the recordings "completely fabricated." The pre-trial investigation closed on April 8, 2026. ## RWKB angle Tymoshenko's case is the origin point of the Manafort–Craig–Skadden FARA chain. ## See Also - [[Skadden]] - [[Paul Manafort Ukraine Operations]]