You're reading: Diplomat: Moscow takes Khoroshkovsky’s statement on Customs Union accession as political declaration

Russia considers a statement by a Ukrainian official that Ukraine's accession to the Customs Union is illegal as a political declaration, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov has said.

“We take it [the statement] just as a political declaration. And certainly they paid attention to it in Moscow [at a meeting of the Ukrainian and Russian premiers],” the diplomat told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday, while commenting on the statement of Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky that “Ukraine’s accession to the Customs Union is outside the law.”

“He [Khoroshkovsky] said that today the Ukrainian legislation on the principles of foreign and home policy determines the course towards European integration as Ukraine’s foreign policy priority. And the legislation does not foresee a possibility of Ukraine’s integration into the Customs Union. Thus, under Ukrainian legislation any talks or, to be more precise, any movement towards the Customs Union contradicts the Ukrainian legislation,” Zurabov said.

According to the ambassador, this statement surprised Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev, and he asked his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov to comment on it during their meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.

“I think Mykola Yanovych gave a complete answer. He said that, first of all, it was an opinion of one of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers. Secondly, no one assumes that if Ukraine is ready to take a step towards the Customs Union in the formats proposed by the Customs Union member states, the legislation would be amended relevantly. Of course it should be,” the diplomat stated.