"We are now holding fairly serious negotiations with the European Union, named by our prime minister an ‘assistance menu’ for Ukraine in the context of our losing the Russian market," Mykolska said at an Infrastructure Ministry session.
The so-called menu is under development in addition to Kiev’s trade dispute lawsuit against Moscow with the World Trade Organization (WTO), she added.
Kiev and Brussels are focusing on key sectors of the economy that have sustained the most significant damage after the loss of the Russian market, Mykolska stressed.
Russia suspended its Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) free trade deal with Ukraine as of January 1, 2016, the same day the EU-Ukraine free trade zone – part of a larger Ukraine-EU Association Agreement ratified last year – came to effect.
These measures include an embargo on the import of certain Ukrainian food products and customs duties imposed on other Ukrainian goods.
Russia extended its food embargo on European food products in response to Western sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy. Suspending the CIS free trade deal is seen as a way to avoid the potential of illicit European products transiting into Russia through Ukraine.
The Ukrainian National Bank forecast this week that its exports to Russia would fall by nearly one-third and amount to $1.3 billion this year.
