Ukrainian First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin has said he hopes that as part of the investigation into the poisoning of third Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko (2005-2010) his blood sample will be forcibly taken after the development of respective legislative procedures.

"There are no samples, he did not undergo a blood test, but the current Criminal Procedure Code gives the investigator the right to forcibly take blood samples... The only problem is that there is no procedure for forcibly taking blood samples. This procedure is now being developed by several agencies: the Health Ministry, the State Penitentiary Service and the Justice Ministry... If such a procedure is developed, we still hope to receive blood samples, analyze them and make a final decision on the case," he said live on the Echo of Moscow radio station on Wednesday.

Kuzmin said that if Yuschenko was really poisoned with dioxin, the residue of this substance would still remain in his blood.

"This is why we are insisting that Viktor Andriyovych [Yuschenko] take the tests," he added.

It was reported that on September 5, 2004, Yuschenko, a presidential candidate at the time, met with senior Ukrainian security officers, following which he fell ill and on September 10 was hospitalized in Vienna. Doctors said Yuschenko was poisoned with dioxin, and that the poison had got in the patient's system approximately five days before hospitalized. A number of tests were carried out later. In late May 2006, Yuschenko again tested positive for dioxin.

At the same time, lately Yuschenko has ignored prosecutors' request to do the blood test as part of an inquiry into his poisoning.

In early June 2012, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said the inquiry into the poisoning of Yuschenko could be closed by the end of 2012.

Yuschenko's press secretary, Iryna Vannykova, stated that the former president was ready to undergo a new blood test only with the participation of several international laboratories.