Russia vows to protect its market from EU re-export via Ukraine
29 June 2014
Xinhua, Moscow :
It would be hard for Ukraine to be a participant in the CIS and The European Union (EU) free trade agreements simultaneously, a senior Russian diplomat said Friday.
"It is obvious that to comply simultaneously with the conditions stipulated in the two documents is impossible," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya said, adding that " Brussels has confirmed this."
Moscow is not going to retaliate Kiev for the signing of the association agreement with the EU, but it will have to take protective measures, the diplomat said.
"No one speaks about any Russian sanctions against Ukraine for its signature of association with the EU," Nebenzya said, "only about the measures to protect the market of the Customs Union (CU) countries."
The CU currently comprises Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, while Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are waiting to join the economic alliance. Kiev is well aware about the consequences of its joining the EU free trade zone, Nebenzya said, stressing that Ukraine-EU association would inevitably create "difficulties and potential risks" for the CU countries.
For example, according to him, Ukraine might become a channel for semi-legal re- exportation of European agricultural products, which does not meet CU standards.
