Interfax: Russia “has nothing to do” with Ukraine’s U-turn on Europe – Putin’s spokesman

(Interfax – Sochi, November 27, 2013) Whether or not Ukraine signs an association agreement with the EU is an internal matter to be addressed exclusively by Kiev, the Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitriy Peskov, said on Wednesday [27 November].

At the request of journalists, he was commenting on remarks by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had said that during his conversation with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president called on Ukraine not to sign the association agreement.

“Putin has repeatedly said in public that whether or not the association agreement with the EU is signed is a sovereign and internal matter to be addressed exclusively by Ukraine. This decision should be made in Kiev and is made in Kiev. Russia has nothing to do with the actual decision,” Peskov said.

[Asked to comment on Yanukovych’s reported remarks that bilateral relations were “in a tailspin”, Peskov said: “If one of the parties has some ideas about possible ways of improving relations, the other party would always be ready to listen to such ideas in a most constructive manner.” (Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1347 gmt 27 Nov 13)]