KIEV, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Friday predicted that bilateral trade between Russia and Ukraine could come to a full stop over the complicated relations between the two countries and European sanctions imposed on Russia.
“My prediction is the following: preparations reqired for an almost complete limitation of trade relations with Russia in a bilateral format,” Yatsenyuk said during a meeting on market diversification on the market and delivery sources of industrial products.
“When western countries impose sanctions against Russia, markets close, losses occur and we’re sitting here and thinking that it will all just simply go away. That’s incorrect and does not reflect the norms of international law or the main thing: understanding of our dignity. I understand all of the economic consequences as do you, but I also understand that Russia is not the only market in the world where Ukrainian products can be delivered, so the government is ready to do everything in order to diversify the markets in the short-term perspective,” he said.
"According to our preliminary estimates, the export of Ukrainian products will reduce by about $5 billion, if the Russian market is completely closed," Yatsenyuk said.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury introduced the so-called Sectoral Sanctions Identification List that affects companies and institutions in defense, energy and banking sectors of the Russian economy over their involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
Moscow considers the new package of US sanctions to be Washington’s primitive attempt of revenge, because the events in Ukraine went off-track and are no longer following US-devised scenarios, the Russian Foreign Ministry, reacting to the new sanctions, said in a statement.
On June 27, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the economic part of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, which includes provisions for the creation of a free trade zone. Yatsenyuk in Brussels signed the political part back in March.
Russia previously expressed concerns over the Association Agreement, as it could trigger an uncontrolled flow of duty unpaid goods to Russia and therefore negatively affect the domestic market.
