You're reading: Newspaper: EU asks Ukraine to explain its cooperation with Russia-led trade block

The European Union sent an official letter to Ukraine, proposing to discuss the county's plans and obligations regarding Russia-led Customs Union trade bloc, the Ukrainian weekly Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported based on its diplomatic sources. 

Ukraine
signed on May 31 in Minsk, Belarus, a deal to become an observer in the Customs Union, a trade block of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which the Kremlin for years was urging Ukraine to join.

But
hoping to sign landmark agreements on free trade and political
association with the EU in November, Ukraine refused full
membership in the Russia-led block, fearing a deal could be incompatible with its European agreements.

But
Ukraine began giving explanations about its plans on cooperation
with Customs Union only after President Viktor Yanukovych
visited Astana, Kazakhstan, on May 29, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and other presidents of the countries
participating in the trade block.

Ukrainian officials assured the European representatives that
“Ukraine would not allow to infringe upon its sovereignty” and
will follow its attention to the World Trade Organization and the initiated EU commitments, the newspaper
said based on its sources.

The
newspaper’s source has also said that as the text of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU includes a statement that any
future international agreement of Ukraine shouldn’t contradict its
commitments to the EU, signing the deal with Europe will create “a
solid defensive shield against attempts to drag it (Ukraine) into Eurasian integration.”