KIEV, October 22 - RAPSI. A Kiev court has suspended the consideration of appeals against the ruling on the Ukrainian government's payment of debt owed by the United Energy Systems of Ukraine to the Russian Defense Ministry, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports.

The judge said that the Ukrainian Security Service is investigating a criminal case connected with the debt. Therefore the material from the appeal proceedings have been submitted to the service, and the case has been adjourned until all circumstances of the criminal case have been clarified.

Representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry abstained from commenting on the court's ruling.

On September 19, the Kiev Economic Court partially ruled for the Defense Ministry's suit, obligating the Ukrainian government to pay more than 3.2 million hryvnas ($390 million) in UESU debt which arose in the 1990s, when the corporation was headed by Yulia Tymoshenko.

Russia maintains that the debt stems from the UESU's failure to fulfill their 1997 agreement to supply goods for the Defense Ministry.

In October 2011, Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power based on a 2009 gas contract that she signed with Russia. She is serving her sentence in a Kharkov women's prison. She has been receiving treatment at a Kharkov hospital since May 2012. She was diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation.

In late March, a second case bringing further charges against Tymoshenko was filed with Kharkov's Kievsky District Court. The case deals with her activity at UESU. She is accused of misappropriating funds.