Ukraine, Russia, EU to talk about trade after Jan. 1

Today’s meeting of foreign ministers representing the EU, Russia and Ukraine will address the decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 16 to cancel the free trade zone between Russia and Ukraine as of Jan. 1. “I think that just as before the meeting everyone will be aware afterwards that the main goal of this meeting is to determine what are the violations now regarding this decree’s approval and how the sides will communicate further,” said on Dec. 19 Olena Zerkal, the deputy foreign minister on Euro-integration issues, as reported by the UNIAN news agency.

Putin’s decision violates all cannons of international law and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry needs to determine how to interact with Russia further, Zerkal said. “During 15 rounds of technical consultations and five ministerial meetings, we discussed how to relieve concerns,” she said in regards to three spheres that she identified as technical barriers to trade, sanitary issues and cooperation on customs. “It seems to me that Russia’s intentions are very evidently demonstrated with this decree and that this process have nothing in common with finding answers,” she said.

Zenon Zawada: It will be interesting to hear what proposals will be offered by the Russians after they suggested that Ukraine join its embargo of certain EU member-states like Poland, which is Ukraine’s biggest ally in the EU at the moment. But besides such amusements, it will become all the more apparent that a full-blown trade war has erupted between Russia and Ukraine with harsh consequences, which is Putin’s intention.

Rather than convincing Ukrainians of the need to realign their geopolitics towards Moscow, this war will only ruin Ukrainian-Russian relations for years to come. It’s in Russia’s interests to normalize relations to the best it can, but unfortunately such advice from Western leaders has fallen on deaf ears. A large price will have to be paid by not only Russians, but by people far beyond her borders, as there is no end in sight to the war in Ukraine.