KIEV, December 21 - RAPSI. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said it is impossible to terminate the criminal proceedings against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

"It is impossible to terminate either the investigation or criminal cases against Tymoshenko. She will be prosecuted by the court and no one is entitled to interfere with the process," he said during a news conference.

A Kiev district court sentenced Tymoshenko in October to seven years in prison for abuse of power in signing gas contracts between Ukraine's Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom in 2009. Tymoshenko appealed the sentence. The court sanctioned her second arrest on December 8 in connection to her activities as the head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine in the 1990s. Under the new case, she stands indicted for tax evasion, non-disclosure of currency proceeds and attempted embezzlement of millions of U.S. dollars in budget funds.