YALTA, September 20 (RIA Novosti) – A top Russian official warned Ukraine on Saturday that its trade balance will have a deficit of up to $15 billion if the ex-Soviet nation signs a free trade agreement with the European Union.
Ukraine is widely expected to sign a European Union Association Agreement during the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in late November. The deal has long irked Russia, which has been increasing pressure on Kiev to join its Moscow-led Customs Union, a move that would keep Ukraine under Russia’s sphere of influence.
“After creating a free trade zone with the EU, import from EU countries to Ukraine will grow by $2-3 billion, while its export to the countries of the Customs Union will decrease by $4 billion,” Russian presidential adviser Sergei Glazyev said at a forum in the southern Ukrainian city of Yalta. “As a result, the trade balance deficit, according to our calculations, will reach $ 12-15 billion.”
In mid-August, Glazyev warned that the EU deal would be “suicidal” for Ukraine because it would trigger a permanent tightening of customs procedures for Ukrainian goods entering Russia. Russia and Ukraine have had a series of politically driven commercial spats since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The EU Association Agreement, aimed at establishing political association and economic integration between the EU and Ukraine, is expected to replace the 1998 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement as a basis for bilateral relations. The new deal was initiated in March 2012 in Brussels after five years of negotiations.
