Updated 3:03 p.m. Moscow Time
KIEV, September 17 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev will retaliate any trade restrictions imposed by Russia over Ukraine’s free trade zone with the European Union by taking tit-for-tat measures , Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday.
“As soon as Russia imposes trade restrictions on Ukraine, we will introduce mirror-like measures immediately,” Yatsenyuk said.
Ukraine's prime minister has already claimed Kiev might stop trade with Russia. In July Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine "should be ready for an almost absolute restriction of trade with Russia."
Moscow previously expressed deep concern over Ukraine's signing of the free trade agreement with the EU, saying it could trigger an uncontrolled flow of duty-free goods, and warned Kiev that Russia would have to cancel trade preferences for Ukraine to protect its markets.
Ukraine is one of nine members of the free-trade zone agreement of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries (along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Armenia and Uzbekistan).
The parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union simultaneously ratified Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union on Tuesday.
The Verkhovna Rada approved the bill by 355 lawmakers with the required minimum of 226 "yes" votes. The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the ratification deal immediately after and told the government to prepare the bill for the agreement's implementation by Wednesday.
The political provisions of the association agreement were signed in March, after Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president at the time, was ousted and an interim government came to power.
Poroshenko signed the economic part of the agreement in June.
