Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the EU of "blackmailing" and “pressuring” Ukraine over its decision to suspend preparations for a trade pact with the bloc. He added that Ukraine’s decision will be clear in the next few days.
"When we heard (I just found out yesterday) that Ukraine has suspended – not canceled but suspended – negotiations with the EU and wants to review everything, we heard a threat from the EU to Ukraine up to the point of holding mass protests. This is pressure and blackmail," Putin said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg.
Putin reiterated Russia's readiness to hold three-way talks with the EU and Ukraine on trade and the economy.
“President Yanukovych suggested that we should have three-way
talks on these problems,” Putin said. “We are ready to
participate in such talks, and this is in a way a test of how
serious our European partners’ intentions are. It’s a test of how
ready our European friends are to conduct negotiations on an
equal basis, or the absence of such readiness.”
Putin added that there “shouldn’t be any politicizing” of
the situation, adding that Turkey has a “big experience of
negotiating with the EU” and Russia will ask the advice of
Ankara on how to behave in this situation.
Erdogan smiled, and said it “was a not a joke,” as Turkey
has 50 years’ experience of trade talks with the EU.
Ukraine’s integration with the EU is not a political issue, but an economic one, Putin added.
At one point in the press conference, Putin lightened the mood with a joke – at America’s expense.
A Russian journalist brought up the question of a phone call between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his Lithuanian counterpart, Dalia Grybauskaite. Grybauskaite’s aide, Jovita Neliupšienė, claimed that Moscow had warned Kiev off the EU deal, the journalist said.
Putin replied he had no information about what was said in the call, but added, smiling, that maybe the question should be asked instead to the United States.
“I do not know what the president of Ukraine and the president
of Lithuania were talking about. Maybe we can ask our American
friends and they can tell us. But they haven’t said anything to
us yet," Putin said, apparently referring to the latest
scandal with the US National Security Agency’s surveillance
program and their tapping of EU leaders’ phones.
Ukraine’s government signed a degree Thursday suspending preparations for the
association agreement between Ukraine and the EU. Lawmakers said
that the decision was taken after Kiev considered the effects of
the association on its trade relations with Moscow.
Russia welcomed Kiev’s desire to rekindle ties with Moscow, and
Putin said that he wasn't completely against Ukraine's
association with the EU. The Ukrainian president however said
that his country would continue its efforts towards European
integration, despite the “difficulties.”
Putin said Friday that after Ukraine’s decision, the two
countries now have a free trade zone agreement.
“It means that in many product groups, very sensitive to both
countries, we have zero export and import tariffs. The level of
customs protection of our territory in relations with EU partners
is very different. We have achieved this status as a result of
negotiations within the framework of the World Trade
Organization, which were carried out over the past 17
years.”
If Ukraine signs a trade pact with the EU resetting its trade
tariffs, then this would automatically affect Russia if it keeps
its free trade zone with Ukraine, Putin said, adding that this
could destroy entire sectors of the Russian economy.
Putin said that the competitiveness of Russian agriculture and a
number of other industries had not yet met the European Union’s
requirements. If Ukraine went ahead with its Euro-integration
deal, Russia would be forced to cancel preferential tariffs with
Kiev, he said.