Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been returned to prison after a brief hospital stay, Interfax-Ukraine reported Sunday citing a statement made by penitentiary sources.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, Tymoshenko was taken back to prison by the Berkut special forces police. The news agency reported that at the moment the hospital is unguarded by police forces.

An officer told one of the people outside that Tymoshenko is personally guarded by Security Service of Ukraine agents, with a security detail supplemented by Interior Ministry police and special Berkut units, the Kyiv Post reported.

There were no protesters or demonstrations in evidence on Sunday as people walked about leisurely as others sat on benches.

Since her arrest in August and her seven-year prison sentence in October, Tymoshenko - twice Ukraine's prime minister - has been suffering from severe back and spinal problems that her supporters say prevent her from doing much more than lying in bed.

The Kyiv Post reminds that she accuses President Viktor Yanukovych of trying to kill her, charges the president vehemently denies. She has also refused to be treated in Ukraine, citing lack in trust of Ukrainian doctors and the state penitentiary medical service. Her supporters are trying to get her treated abroad and she has been visited this year by Canadian and German doctors who say she is suffering from serious health problems and is not being adequately treated.

Authorities say Tymoshenko has been offered adequate treatment and have pointed to her reluctance and refusal for state medical care as a show for media attention.

Tymoshenko was transferred to the hospital on Saturday from a prison in Kharkiv where she is serving a seven-year prison sentence on an abuse-of-office conviction widely seen as politically motivated.

The address of the hospital, where patients are taken after experiencing medical emergencies, is 5 Balakereva Pereyulok. It is known by the acronym TsKB, or Central Clinic Hospital of Ukrzaliznytsia -- as it used to be a place where state railway employees were treated.

On Saturday, several dozen police officers were deployed to the hospital after Tymoshenko's late-night transfer from her Kharkiv prison cell in another part of the city late Friday, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

According to the Interfax-Ukraine report, policemen are patrolling the hospital's territory and premises. In addition, a patrol vehicle has been parked near the hospital. This same vehicle was earlier parked near the penitentiary in Kharkiv, where the ex-premier was serving her prison sentence.

About a dozen Tymoshenko supporters who earlier regularly gathered near the penitentiary have now gathered near the window of the hospital room where Tymoshenko has been placed.

Some patients interviewed by Interfax said they did not notice any significant changes in the institution's operations.

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