Ukraine president meets with Putin ahead of summit

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych traveled to Sochi on May 26 for a working visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s Presidential Administration revealed few details about their topics of discussion, other than the condition of Russian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation issues ahead of the May 28-29 meeting of the Eurasian Economic Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Zenon Zawada: It’s likely the Yanukovych Administration is aiming to make a big announcement at the summit in Astana. The most relevant topics between the two nations are a natural gas consortium between the state monopolies to manage Ukraine’s transit system and Ukraine’s possible observer status in the Customs Union. Yanukovych and his team would like to announce success in securing either or both of these arrangements, possibly in exchange for a cheaper gas price. However, we believe the odds are stacked against Yanukovych in securing either policy goal since the Russian government is well aware that it’s in the driver’s seat of relations. That’s particularly the case with Yanukovych’s relations with the EU in such poor shape.