ISTANBUL - EU proposals aimed at eliminating Russian concerns over the EU association agreement with Ukraine are unsatisfactory to Russia, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists in Istanbul on Oct. 6 following a meeting with European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom at the G20 trade ministers summit.
“Tomorrow we have a meeting of experts of the three sides: Russia-Ukraine-EU in Brussels. The last time we met in Brussels at a ministerial meeting [in early September], we agreed that the colleagues would propose their alternatives to the draft document that we prepared back in June, which, from our standpoint, makes it possible to allay our concerns and the risks that are emerging. They sent us a draft that does not satisfy us.”
“We discussed this with Ms. Malmstrom, how our experts could work with maximum intensity,” he said.
The document was presented by the EU, Ulyukayev said, adding that he didn’t know if Ukraine subscribed to its provisions.
“We only received this document yesterday. It was prepared for tomorrow’s meeting of experts, but we wanted to discuss this problem at today’s meeting, so that the experts have a sort of mandate for further work,” he said.
Asked whether the issue of Ukrainian sanctions against Russian companies had been raised at the meeting, Ulyukayev said: “This is a topic for our bilateral relations with Ukraine, but I defined it as a problem.”
Last week, Ulyukayev said that given Ukraine’s imposition of airspace restrictions on Russian airlines, the chances of reaching an agreement addressing Russian concerns before the EU-Ukraine association agreement takes effect on January 1, 2016 are minimal. If no agreement is reached, Ukraine will be included in Russia’s food product embargo regime and will revert to being an ordinary trade zone, rather than a free trade zone.
