We have people in east Ukraine, says Prez Putin
By Daren Flores on Dec 20, 2015 with Comments 0
Ukraine is “ready to pay the price” for a trade deal with the European Union, President Petro Poroshenko said after Moscow moved to restrict its own trade ties with Kyiv over the accord that is due to take effect on Jan.1.
In August, the Ukrainian cabinet and a group of its other worldwide creditors have reached an agreement, which envisages a 20-percent write-off of 15 billion US dollars of Kyiv’s foreign debts and a 4-year extension of the loan repayment period.
Ukraine won’t make a $3 billion debt repayment due to Russian Federation this weekend because Moscow refused to agree to terms already accepted by other global creditors, Ukraine’s prime minister said Friday.
“What he (Putin) said today, is basically the same as we have stated all along”, Stoltenberg said during a news conference.
On Thursday, Putin said Moscow had never said that there were no people resolving military issues in Ukraine, but that does not mean that there are Russian troops permanently stationed there.
Kyiv must also show that it is “pursuing appropriate policies” to continue receiving support under its $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout programme.
The fund meanwhile expressed concerns on Friday over parliament’s rejection this week of a draft budget for next year and a new tax code, saying that a balanced budget is a “key condition” for funding and deviating from it would “inevitably disrupt the associated worldwide financing”.
Any allegations of Vladimir Putin acknowledging Russian military presence in Ukraine are “absolutely incorrect”, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has told reporters. Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of sending troops and weapons to the east, a claim the Kremlin has vehemently denied.
Moscow approved the loan to Ukraine in late 2013, shortly before the country’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, and before the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in the east.
He said foreign investors in Ukraine are not likely to be affected “because you can count them on one hand as it is”.
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