MOSCOW, May 3 - RAPSI. Russia tried to influence the Ukrainian authorities in their decision regarding former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven year sentence for abuse of power in signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009, a high-ranking Kremlin source told RIA Novosti.

"Honestly? We tried. In the framework of Ukraine's independent judicial system, we said that she was subject to unlawful actions," he said.

The Pechersky District Court in Kiev sentenced Tymoshenko on October 11 to seven years in prison for abuse of power in signing gas contracts between Ukraine's Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom in 2009. The judge declared that Tymoshenko abused her power as prime minister and issued directives regarding gas contract negotiations in Moscow, which were poorly documented and lacked the government's consent.

"She had the full power of then-President Viktor Yushchenko," the source said. "He told President Dmitry Medvedev that the prime minister had the power to sign the contracts. Indeed, it looks like we entered into unlawful contracts, but this is untrue. The authorities' actions against Tymoshenko, who, we believe, acted within her powers and signed contracts that were clear to us on a clear issue, affect our relations in a way."