MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Customs Union-Ukraine-EU meeting in Minsk on August 26 and will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event, the Kremlin press service said Tuesday.
“On August 26 this year, Russian President Putin will visit Minsk, where he will take part in the summit of Customs Union leaders with the president of Ukraine, also attended by envoys of the European Commission. A number of bilateral meetings will take place,” the statement reads.
Earlier the same day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's press service said officials from Ukraine, the European Union and the so-called 'Eurasian Trio' (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan) will meet in Minsk on August 26 to discuss a number of urgent political and economic issues, including Ukraine's European integration, energy security and the stabilization of the situation in Donbas.
At the latest meeting of the parties in July, the Commission recognized that the implementation of the rules of the Association Agreement can carry economic risks for Russian-Ukrainian relations. Despite Moscow’s expectations that Kiev will postpone the decision, the administration of Ukrainian President hopes that the Association Agreement will be ratified until September. The Ukrainian parliament had previously agreed to continue its work until September, not going on vacation.
