KIEV, October 7 - RAPSI. Naftogaz of Ukraine will not give up its $187 million claim against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuri Boiko said on Friday.

The Pechersky District Court in Kiev will begin announcing Tymoshenko's sentence on October 11. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has charged Tymoshenko with abuse of power in connection with her approval of a Russian gas supply contract in 2009, when she served as prime minister. At the outset of the criminal procedure, Naftogaz launched a civil action to recover from Tymoshenko $187 million in damages for losses caused by the contract.

"Ukrtransgaz got into great troubles because the price it paid for 1,000 cubic meters of 'technical gas' went up from $180 to $360 after the contract entered into force. We just cannot abandon this lawsuit," Boiko told deputies.