Ukraine, Russian PMs meet to discuss trade

Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov met with Russian Federation Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on July 12 to discuss trade and the Eurasian Union, to be launched in 2015, among other topics. Medvedev repeated the Russian position that the Ukrainian government must choose between joining or not joining the Eurasian Economic Union, with his government supporting the former. Medvedev addressed statistics demonstrating a decline in bilateral trade between the two nations for the last two years. In his turn, Azarov said they made progress in cooperating in the spheres of energy, gas transit, aerospace, aircraft manufacturing and other innovation industries.

Zenon Zawada: Nobody opposes deeper trade between Russia and Ukraine, particularly not the European Union (EU) leadership. However, the EU has made clear that the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement can’t accommodate membership in the Eurasian Union. Meanwhile, Medvedev is singing the same tune he always has regarding the Eurasian Union. This time however, he doesn’t have the same levers of pressure after the Russian government signed a memorandum on deeper cooperation with the Ukrainians in late May. The memorandum essentially extends this flirtation indefinitely, to the advantage of the Ukrainian side.