KIEV: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich pardoned two jailed allies of his main political opponent, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on Sunday but took no steps to free the imprisoned opposition leader herself.
In a move clearly intended to appease critical Western governments, and particularly the European Union, Yanukovich signed a decree pardoning former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko and former ecology minister Heorhiy Filipchuk.
Both had been serving jail terms for abuse of office. The presidential pardon, which Yanukovich himself had hinted at last February, was the first sign of any relaxation in a drive against Tymoshenko and her allies in which several of her ministers have been jailed or fled abroad to avoid prosecution.
It came after a week of sharpening political tension in the former Soviet republic, where the united opposition, re-energised by a strong showing in an election last October, blocked parliamentary proceedings and forced pro-Yanukovich deputies to hold a rival parliamentary session in a separate building.
The release of Tymoshenko and her allies is one of the key demands of the united opposition. Despite Sunday's decree, Yanukovich showed no signs of clemency towards Tymoshenko who is serving a seven-year jail sentence also for abuse-of-office.
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