The Ukrainian parliament has rejected a set of laws that would enable the jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to receive medical treatment in Germany.
The vote – the second time that the Verkhovna Rada has turned down the bills – substantially reduces the prospects of Ukraine signing political and trade deals with the European Union next week.
The EU has described Tymoshenko’s jailing as an example of selective justice and views her imprisonment as the result of a flawed legal process.
The EU has said that it needs to see Ukraine make substantial progress towards assuaging concerns about selective justice before it is prepared to sign the trade and political agreements at a summit in Vilnius on 28-29 November.
In a scenario presented by two EU envoys, the Ukrainian parliament would have allowed Tymoshenko to receive treatment abroad and President Viktor Yanukovych would then have granted her a partial pardon.
Tymoshenko has already served two years of her seven-year sentence.
Reports from Kiev, citing unnamed sources, say that Yanukovych has made clear to EU representatives over the past 24 hours that he is no longer prepared to sign the agreements with the EU.