"Export growth was 26% in 2004, 22.8% in 2005, and only 15.5% in the first quarter" of 2006, said Volodymyr Shevchenko, the director of the ministry's department for cooperation with former Soviet republics. "We obviously see an unhealthy downward trend in Ukrainian exports to Russia."
Speaking at a roundtable on Russian-Ukrainian relations, Shevchenko put the trend down to last year's abolition of an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, and a cooling off in bilateral relations, primarily in political terms.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated after "orange revolution" swept pro-Western leader Viktor Yushchenko to power over his pro-Russian rival, Viktor Yanukovych. Tension between the two former Soviet republics further increased after a bitter row over natural gas prices, which saw Russia suspending gas supplies to Ukraine at the start of the year.
In January, Russia also banned meat imports from Ukraine, citing violations of sanitary norms.
"Together with agricultural and foreign ministries [of Ukraine], we are trying to address this grave problem, but it is unlikely to be resolved either in a month or in two months," Shevchenko said.
The Ukrainian economics ministry said the country had exported $7.5 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2005, and imported $12.8 billion from Russia.
