Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has said he believes that the issue of criminal cases against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko should be resolved at the purely legal level and should not hinder the country's integration into the EU.

"There is a concrete criminal case, and it should be resolved at a purely legal level," he said in an interview with the Day newspaper.

He said that the Ukrainian president had recently decided to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and that all legal proceedings in this case had been completed.

"But we cannot say the same today about the case of Tymoshenko. But we're deeply convinced that one criminal case – against the former prime minister - cannot be an obstacle in relations between such a large country as Ukraine and the EU," Kozhara said.

In general, according to the minister, the process of European integration is positive.

"It's no secret that there is a political issue in relations with the EU – this is the issue of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is in prison. We believe that this issue is now extremely politicized," he said.

He again noted that the EU was considering this issue as "selective justice," but in his opinion there is no repression of the Ukrainian opposition through the judicial system in Ukraine.