KIEV, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - Kiev and Brussels will launch a free trade zone if Russia violates the Brussels agreements on implementation of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, the acting Ukrainian economic development and trade minister said Tuesday.
"There is a certain probability – and I'm not implying that this probability is high – that the Russian Federation will withdraw from the agreements, reached in Brussels; in this case, of course, other parties will also be freed from the agreements achieved," Valery Pyatnitsky said.
Earlier, the Russian side also said it would have to introduce measures to protect its market should Kiev or Brussels begin openly or secretly implementing the economic part of the Association Agreement, thus breaking the agreements reached in Brussels mid-September.
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 then-President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and an interim government came to power. The economic part of the agreement was signed by current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in June.
Early in September, the parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union ratified both parts of the Association Agreement but postponed the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.
The agreement to delay the treaty's implementation was reached at a trilateral Russia-Ukraine-European Union meeting in Brussels, held after Moscow expressed concerns that the implementation of the treaty carries economic risks for Russia and Ukraine.
Later, the EU Council confirmed that the bloc will postpone the establishment of a free trade zone with Ukraine envisioned under the Association Agreement until January 1, 2016.
