Ukraine’s prime minister sought on Saturday to calm Russian fears over Kiev’s plans to sign a free-trade pact with the EU, but a Kremlin official repeated threats of retaliatory action.
Officials from Ukraine and its old Soviet master Russia clashed at an international gathering in the Black Sea resort of Yalta over Kiev’s plans to sign landmark agreements in November with the EU on political association and free trade.
Moody’s Investor Service cut Ukraine’s sovereign credit rating on Friday, partly on concern over relations with Russia.
Russia says it fears its market could be flooded by competitive EU goods entering Ukraine free of import duties and being re-exported across the long border with Russia.
However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in a speech to the conference, dismissed the threat of illegal transit of EU goods into Russia as a “hypothetical” one that would not happen in practice.
“We are convinced that the signing [of the agreements with the EU] does not hold any risks [for Russia],” he said, adding that he would give personal assurances of this to Russia and its trade allies in the Moscow-led Customs Union.
He also expressed frustration at Russia’s refusal to cut the price of the gas it sells to Ukraine and said Kiev may have to reduce further the volume of its gas imports.
Ukraine’s pro-Europe drive has already drawn threats of counter-measures from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as pressure on Kiev to join the Customs Union.
Speaking after Azarov on Saturday, Sergei Glazyev, an aide to Putin, returned to the attack, saying that Russia might be obliged to impose duties on any goods arriving from Ukrainian territory, at a huge financial cost to Ukraine.
Saying 40 percent of Ukrainians had doubts over the agreements with the EU, Glazyev, who has made hawkish comments before about Ukraine’s pro-Europe policy, urged the Kiev government to ballot its people.
“Let us ... ask the Ukrainian people what choice they prefer,” he said.
Azarov had sharp words for Russia over its refusal to cut the price of its gas, which hangs heavy on Ukraine’s cash-strapped economy.
Ukraine pays what it sees as an exorbitant US$400 per thousand cubic meters under a 2009 contract, which Russia has refused to redraw.
In a bid to break away from reliance on Russia, Ukraine hopes to find alternative energy sources through shale gas exploration and imports from other sources.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday reiterated that Kiev was committed to signing the agreements with the EU at a Nov. 28 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, marking a pivotal shift away from Russia.
However, he refused to say whether he would free his jailed political rival, former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who the EU says is a victim of “selective justice.”
Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2011 for abuse of office after a trial that she says was a vendetta by Yanukovich.
Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is involved in mediation missions on behalf of the EU to get Tymoshenko released, urged Yanukovich to free her for medical treatment in Germany.
“She is ill. She needs surgery. She needs therapy and rehabilitation,” Kwasniewski said at the conference.
Freeing Tymoshenko now would mean “an absolutely open door” for the association agreement, he said.
Moody’s cut Ukraine’s sovereign debt rating by one notch to “Caa1” from “B3,” citing concerns over foreign currency reserves, new debt issuance and potentially worsening ties with Russia.
Moody’s said it welcomed the forthcoming EU trade pact as positive overall for Ukraine in the medium term, but added: “The short-term credit negative impact of a negative reaction by Russia outweighs these benefits.”
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS