Medvedev doesn’t see Ukraine’s association with EU as dramatic or fatal

(Interfax – KALUGA. October 15, 2013) Moscow does not consider Kyiv’s choice in favor of association with the European Union to be fatal or dramatic, although this would pose certain difficulties for the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union’s and Russia’s market, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

“Do we think that this is a dramatic or fatal choice? Of course we don’t think so. We think that Ukraine as a sovereign state is entitled to make any choice,” Medvedev said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in Kaluga.

Russia “always closely follows ongoing processes,” Medvedev said. “Obviously, an association agreement with the European Union produces a host of questions or potential difficulties for the Customs Union’s or the Russian market,” he said.

Asked how Russia will further work with its Ukrainian partners, Medvedev replied, “Let’s wait and see what happens.”

Medvedev said Azarov and he had discussed trade and economic cooperation “carefully, openly and in a partner-like manner.”

“It is obvious that Ukraine has made a certain choice based on its own national understanding as to how to develop integration processes,” he said.

[featured image is file photo]