Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will be transported from a hospital in Kharkiv to the Kachanivska penal colony only with the consent of the doctors who are in charge of her treatment, First Deputy Head of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine Serhiy Sydorenko has said.

"This [issue of Tymoshenko's transfer to prison] depends on the conclusions of medical employees, first and foremost, from the institution in which she is undergoing treatment. We know that all decisions are adjusted and checked with experts from the Charité Clinic. So it all depends on the recommendations of health care workers," he told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday, when asked by Interfax-Ukraine how soon Tymoshenko will be moved to prison and on what this decision depends.

When asked whether this means that if the doctors are against Tymoshenko's transportation, saying that she is still in need of treatment and rehabilitation, the State Penitentiary Service will not take any radical actions, Sydorenko said: "Of course, we cannot insist, because the process of treatment and medical conclusions are fundamental factors on which our actions are based."

He said that the former prime minister would be transferred to the Kachanivska colony only if the doctors say that it can be done.

On October 11, 2011, Kyiv's Pechersky District Court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for exceeding her powers when signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009. She has served her sentence in the Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.