Kyiv in Talks on Observer Status in Moscow-Led Trade Bloc – PM
KYIV, March 19 (RIA Novosti) – Kyiv is holding talks with members of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on Ukraine’s possible observer status in the trade bloc, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Tuesday.
“We are conducting talks in such a format in which Ukraine will become an observer with the Customs Union,” Azarov told reporters.
Kyiv had previously insisted on special terms of cooperation with the Russia-led Customs Union, but Moscow reacted negatively to the idea.
“Our Ukrainian friends like to talk about the issue of joining [the Customs Union] under a ‘three plus one format’ and so on. But it can’t be this way,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday.
Ukraine, which has few energy resources of its own, relies heavily on gas imports from Russia. The 2009 gas deal signed between Moscow and Kyiv tied the price for Russian gas to international oil prices, which have risen significantly since 2009, boosting Ukraine’s bill.
Russia has said on numerous occasions it could cut gas prices for its neighbor, if Ukraine joins the Customs Union.
Ukraine, which has proclaimed a strategic course of Euro-integration, is reluctant to become a full member of the Moscow-led Customs Union, because such a deal would rule out signing a free trade agreement with the European Union.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych earlier did not rule out that Ukraine could cooperate with the union as an observer.