Ukraine made its first payment of the $390 million debt to Russia of the scandal-plagued state corporation United Energy Systems, once headed by jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, the country's prosecutor general said on Friday, RIA Novosti reported.
"Payments have started. $7.5 million have already been paid to Russia," Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said.
The Ukrainian security service said on October 13, 2011 that it opened a second case against the ex-PM, sentenced to seven years for abuse of office in 2011. The case concerned a debt which the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, then chaired by Tymoshenko, owed to the Russian Defense Ministry in the 1990s. The company was the main importer of Russian gas under Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko in 1996.
Tymoshenko is also accused of tax evasion and forgery by an official.
Her defense team dismissed all accusations as a political revenge by the country's incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych.