DHAKA: Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said she plans to run for president of Ukraine in May elections.

Tymoshenko was released from prison in February, following the ousting of president Viktor Yanukovych, after three years in jail.

She has already served twice as prime minister and ran for president in 2010.

She was a major figure in the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution’ that toppled Yanukovych’s first administration.

She was imprisoned in 2011 for corruption linked to a gas deal she brokered with Russia in 2009.

Former boxer Vitaliy Klitschko and chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko are also expected to take part in the presidential election.

Opinion polls suggest Poroshenko, who is one of Ukraine’s richest men, is currently the most popular candidate.

The election is expected to take place on 25 May, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1901 HRS, MAR 27, 2014