Interfax: Medvedev: Ukraine association agreement with EU spells end to ‘exclusive’ Russia relations

MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has advised Ukraine to look to Brussels to raise standby loans in future.

“They constantly turn to us for credits, for example,” Medvedev is quoted by Reuters as saying. “In the end, if they have such advanced relations with Brussels … let them get credits from Brussels,” he said.

Russia has excellent relations with the EU, he said, noting that trade volumes between Russia and the EU dwarf trade between Ukraine and the EU.

Russian-EU trade totals $400 billion a year, which is perhaps exceeded only by trade with the U.S. and China. But trade is one thing, he said. It is another matter when the decision is made to conform to the statutes of a specific integrative association. At that point, Moscow is justified in gauging those relations and reckoning the financial impact on Russia.

Medvedev stressed that Ukraine was within its sovereign rights to sign an association agreement with the EU. “This is the sovereign choice of Ukraine, but let’s hope they don’t kick themselves when they see that they will not receive those dividends, those benefits which they counted on, and lose the advantages that exist because of what we have now … a special relationship with them, an exclusive relationship,” he said.

If Ukraine becomes a member of an EU customs union or free trade zone, other rules will apply to it, a situation that Russia cannot ignore, Medvedev said.

This does not mean that Ukraine is being pressured to join a union with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Medvedev said, adding that Russia has no ulterior motives. But Ukraine does need to decide what’s best for its own interests, he said. Previously Ukraine’s position has been to remain sitting on the fence. Now the nation’s leadership at least has made a decision and will sign the corresponding association agreement, Medvedev said, and that will alter the basis on which Russian-Ukrainian relations are built.

Interfax