Russia’s Putin orders suspension of free trade zone with Ukraine

Ukraine is ready to pay this price for the introduction of a free trade regime with the European Union, Poroshenko said commenting the Russian president’s decree on suspension of the free trade treaty with Ukraine.

Putin on Wednesday signed a decree to suspend Russia’s free trade deal with Ukraine as from January 1, 2016.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern that Ukraine’s free trade agreement with Brussels may flood its market with European goods and months of three-way talks with the EU to smooth things over have yielded no results.

There was no immediate reaction from Kiev, where the authorities have previously said there will be no amendments to the free trade agreement with the European Union and it will come into force on January 1 regardless of any action by Russian Federation.

Controversy over the EU-Ukraine trade deal was the initial trigger of unrest in Kiev that culminated in the ousting of a Moscow-allied president in 2014.

The sovereign status of the debt means Ukraine may have to declare default as early as December 20, when the deadline expires – unless Kiev responds to Moscow’s restructuring plan.

“I have a feeling that they [Ukraine] will not return anything [to us] because they are crooks”, Medvedev said in an interview with Russian TV channels. “They refuse to return the money and our Western partners not only render us no help, they are actually hindering our efforts”.

“We are waiting for proposals from Ukraine taking into account the new decision by the IMF”, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov as saying.

Speaking at a joint briefing with visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda, Poroshenko stated that of the full funding, Warsaw pledged about $ one hundred ten million for Ukraine’s border infrastructure enchancment and agreed to open a $ 1.09 billion foreign money swap line to promote bilateral commerce, Xinhua reported.