Yevhenia Tymoshenko, the daughter and defense lawyer of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has said that a statement made by the State Penitentiary Service that the ex-premier has a cold, which prevents here from meeting with her political allies, is untrue.

"Yesterday I was with my mother all day long and left the Kharkiv hospital at 2000. There were no signs that my mother had an acute respiratory disease at that time," the press service of the Batkivschyna Party quoted her as saying.

She said that her mother had written in her presence an application to hold a meeting with the leader of the Batkivschyna faction in parliament, Arseniy Yatseniuk, and Yury and Iryna Lutsenko.

"Therefore, today's non-admission to the meeting is nothing more than a deliberate restriction of Yulia Tymoshenko's rights. Prison officials have more than once boldly disrupted the meetings of my mother, to which she has a legal right. In addition, this meeting with political allies is extremely important now, in a difficult moment, when the fate of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union is being decided," Tymoshenko said.

In this regard, the ex-premier's daughter called on employees of the State Penitentiary Service to "stop another deception and allow Arseniy Yatseniuk, Yuriy and Iryna Lutsenko to hold a legitimate meeting with Yulia Tymoshenko."

Batkivschyna's press service reported that Yatseniuk and the Lutsenko couple had not been allowed to visit Tymoshenko.

Earlier on Friday, the press office of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine reported that Tymoshenko has an acute respiratory viral infection and that visits to her are currently restricted.