Ukraine-EU free trade precludes Customs Union, Putin advisor says

The launch of the Ukraine-EU Free Trade Area, as part of the Association Agreement, would permanently preclude the nation’s membership in the Customs Union, Russian presidential advisor Sergei Glazev told a Ukrainian television show on April 26. He warned that Ukraine would lose USD 1.5 bln in trade with the EU free trade area. He also said that Ukraine won’t get a natural gas discount without Customs Union membership. “The benefit gained by the Ukrainian consumer in gas and oil is not the most important,” he said. “The most important is access to the market.” Glazev cited Russia and Ukraine’s common aviation, aerospace and atomic industries, which receive as much as half of their parts from Russia. “Removing the customs border offers the possibility of producing together competitive products, as we are doing in plane-building and aerospace,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: Glazev’s remarks have a tradition of being quite rigid on Ukraine’s Customs Union membership, particularly when compared to statements like the one delivered in mid-March by Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov that Russia is willing to consider non-member status for Ukraine. The Russian government seems to be playing a “good guy, bad guy” information campaign with the Ukrainian government and the public, with Glazev playing the bad guy role.

The more interesting aspect of the April 26 television broadcast is that Glazev appeared alongside Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician who is practically Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advocate and representative in the country. These two politicians could not have appeared without the consent of the Presidential Administration, which indicates that it hasn’t ruled out Customs Union membership, or at least is continuing to use that possibility as a lever of influence on the West.