KIEV, Aug. 5 – Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has called on Ukrainians to challenge in the courts the decision by the country's authorities to raise prices for natural gas.

"I'm calling on all concerned Ukrainian citizens to join my initiative: in order not pay money out of your own pockets to corrupt government officials, you should go as third parties to the court that is considering RosUkrEnergo's lawsuit. We should protect ourselves and defend our country on our own," Tymoshenko said in a statement posted on her official Web site.

She recalled that on July 19, RosUkrEnergo had filed an appeal at Kiev Shevchenkivsnky District Court on the enforcement of a ruling of June 8, 2010 by the Stockholm Arbitration Court obliging Naftogaz Ukrayiny to return 12.2 billion cubic meters of gas to RosUkrEnergo.