KIEV (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian government plans to impose "responsive measures" against Russia beginning January 1 over Moscow’s decision to suspend a free trade zone agreement between the two countries and the introduction of a food embargo, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday.
"In response to our long consultations, as was expected Russia imposed a trade embargo on Ukrainian goods that will come into force January 1 of next year. This is not Russia’s first decision, but systematic pressure over the last 10 years on Ukraine with the goal of not letting the Ukrainian economy to develop…but these Russian decisions have received and will receive a merited response," Yatsenyuk said.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia’s implementation of the Commonwealth of Independent States free trade deal with Ukraine effective January 1, 2016. An economic component of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, known as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, comes into effect on the same date.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a directive imposing economic measures against Ukraine, including agricultural goods and raw material imports, last week. The upper house of the Russian parliament will review the legislation on Friday after the lower house adopted it last week.
