Ukraine failed to sign a landmark trade pact with the European Union, in a bid to improve ties with Russia, frustrating officials from the 28-nation bloc who couldn’t say when the deal may go ahead.
Ukraine’s government halted preparations last week to sign the association agreement and free-trade accord, and no breakthroughs were made at a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Moldova, initialed similar treaties today, with a view to signing them next year.
Ukraine’s “leadership chose a way going nowhere,” said President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency. “I see a defeat on Ukraine’s part to seek a better life. The current decision by the leadership is to halt progress.”
