Updated 4:10 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - President of the European Commission Jose Barroso in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday expressed the views of the European Union in regard to trade cooperation with Ukraine, Russia and the EU.
“We have strong concerns about the recent adoption of a decree by the Russian government proposing new trade barriers between Russia and Ukraine. We consider that the application of this decree would contravene the agreed joint conclusions and the decision to delay the provisional application of the trade related part of the Association Agreement,” Barroso’s letter to Putin reads.
Barroso added that further consultations could be held in order to address Russian concerns over the free trade zone between the EU and Ukraine.
“We are ready to continue engaging on how to tackle the perceived negative impacts to the Russian economy resulting from the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area,” the letter reads.
Barroso also reminded that the Association Agreement is a bilateral agreement, "any adaptations to it can only be made at the request of one of the parties and with the agreement of the other."
The Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement presupposes political and economic association between the two parties. The political provisions of the agreement were signed in March, after the then-president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and an interim government came to power. The economic part of the agreement was signed by the current president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in June.
Moscow repeatedly warned Kiev about the negative impacts that Ukraine's free trade agreement with the European Union may have on Russian economy.
On Monday, the Council of the European Union announced that that the European Union will postpone creating a free trade zone with Ukraine under the Association Agreement until January 1, 2016.
