Interfax: Ukraine asks EU to empathize with deferment of pact

KYIV. Dec 2 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has urged the European Union to empathize with Ukraine’s November 21 decision to suspend preparations for an association agreement with the EU.

“I now ask you to take an objective view of this situation, not to accuse us of insincerity but to trust us and make a concession to us,” Azarov said at a meeting in Kyiv on Monday with the ambassadors of EU member countries, Canada and the United States.

He reiterated that Ukraine’s reasons to defer the deal were the poor economic situation in the country, a decline in its trade with Russia, losses the pact would have inflicted on Ukraine, and no promise of compensation for them.

He added that his government had never made any financial claims on the EU and denied media reports that cited sums of money that Ukraine had allegedly sought from the Union. “We have never presented anyone anywhere with any such claims,” he said.

He deplored the EU’s rejection of a Ukrainian proposal for trilateral EU-Ukraine-Russia talks and expressed hope that the Union would change its mind.