Ukraine's ex-president Poroshenko leaves country for political meeting

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian former President Poroshenko leaves a court building in Kyiv
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(Reuters) -Ukraine's former president Petro Poroshenko, who is under investigation for possible treason, has been allowed to leave the country at a border crossing with Poland to attend a political meeting, his party said on Monday.

"Petro Poroshenko was able to go abroad to participate in the Summit and Congress of the European People's Party in Rotterdam," his party, European Solidarity, said in a statement.

Poroshenko was previously stopped from leaving the country twice, missing a meeting of NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Vilnius.

Poroshenko is being investigated in connection with the financing of Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country through illegal coal sales in 2014-15. He denies any wrongdoing.

In January, a Ukrainian judge rejected a prosecutor's request to have Poroshenko arrested in connection with the case, which the latter says has been cooked up by his political opponents.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Gareth Jones)