KIEV, October 7. /TASS/. Ukraine should pay for natural gas as other countries do and it should not plea for a discounted price from Russia, the country’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is running for a seat in parliament as the chairwoman of Batkivshchina party, said on Monday in an interview with the ICTV channel.

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“We have a tradition I wouldn’t call a good one and it’s to beg for something,” she said. “Please get up from your knees, raise your head and pay like all other countries do.”

The effective agreement for supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine was signed in 2009 with Tymoshenko’s immediate involvement in negotiations and the signing. She called it a standard framework agreement that all other European countries have.

“We’re a European country and it’s not proper for us to cadge anything from Russia,” she said. “This (the signing of the agreement) was the only correct and dignified way to genuine independence.”

As TASS said earlier, Russia, the EU and Ukraine drafted a new package agreement September 26 on settling the gas dispute. The document is yet to be coordinated with the governments of the two countries.