MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ukraine could lose up to $600 million in export revenue after Russia scales up trade barriers with the country once the European Union's free trade zone with Ukraine comes into effect, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
"We are preparing for the free trade zone agreement to be enacted from January 1 next year…We are also preparing for Russia to introduce trade barriers against Ukraine. Ukraine had evaluated its losses from Russia imposing such an embargo. At least for 2016 we can give a preliminary estimate of Ukraine losing around 600 million dollars in exports to Russia," Yatsenyuk told the cabinet on Wednesday.
In an attempt to resolve Ukraine's imminent loss, Yatsenyuk ordered the country's foreign ministry to jointly calculate the potential loss with the European Union, and to work out a common plan for overcoming any potential negative consequences of the Russian embargo.
Russia previously expressed concern at possible consequences of the economic part of Ukraine's association agreement with the European Union, stressing that it will act to protect its market from an uncontrolled inflow of cheap food imports from the bloc.
Europe's agricultural produce is heavily subsidized under the union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). According to the European Commission, the European Union spent almost €60 billion on financing the CAP in 2014.
