KIEV, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – The economic deal Ukraine signed with Moscow on Tuesday helped the country to stave off the imminent threat of economic and social collapse, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Wednesday.
Russia agreed on Tuesday to cut the price of Russian gas exported to Ukraine by a third, down to $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters from the current level of more than $400, and to buy $15 billion of Ukraine's debt in eurobonds.
“What would have awaited Ukraine? The answer is clear – bankruptcy and social collapse," Azarov said at a government meeting in defense of Kiev’s decision to establish closer ties with Moscow rather than Brussels.
But the Ukrainian opposition and EU officials criticized the deal as a half-measure that failed to address the urgency of economic reforms in the country that could be achieved only through the European integration.
Ukraine’s former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, jailed for exceeding her authority in signing the previous gas deal with Russia, said the agreement would only make Ukraine dependent on Russia.
“He [Yanukovych] thinks that those political handouts will help him stay in power. If he accepts them, then Ukraine will again take the bait because Russia will ask for submissiveness in return. This might be the beginning of the end of our independence,” she said.
Ukraine has recently become a pivotal point in a diplomatic tug-of-war between Russia and the European Union.
The former Soviet republic stunned Europe last month by announcing that it was giving up pursuit of an association agreement and trade pact with the EU, and opting instead for ties with the Moscow-led Customs Union trade bloc.
Ukraine’s rejection of the EU deal has prompted mass protests and thrown the country into a political crisis, with hundreds of thousands attending rallies demanding the dissolution of the government and early elections.
Both the EU and Moscow have accused each other of using strong-arm tactics to secure economic ties with Kiev.
Updates with Tymoshenko’s comments
