Ukrainian Minister Says Tymoshenko Doesn't Need Surgery

The medical suite prepared by the penitentiary service in Kachanivska prison for a medical examination of Yulia Tymoshenko

Ukrainian members of the international medical panel that examined the health of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko say no surgery is needed for her treatment.

Tymoshenko

The panel’s chairwoman, Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko, told journalists that Ukrainian media reports about German doctors allegedly finding a herniated disk in Tymoshenko’s spine were unfounded.

Moiseyenko said that Tymoshenko asked that the diagnosis of the doctors not be made public.

Ukrainian doctors and the international team of experts that visited Ukraine this week examined Tymoshenko at the labor camp where she is being held, near the eastern city of Kharkiv, on February 15.

Tymoshenko, who says her jailing is a politically motivated attack by her opponents, has complained of deteriorating health since being imprisoned in October for seven years for abuse of office.

Her supporters have been rallying in front of the labor camp since February 13.