MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), the economic component of Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union, comes into effect on January 1. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem accused Russia, on Monday, of inflexibility in the failed trilateral dialogue, saying there were no plans for the talks to continue.
"We agreed with [Russian] Minister of Economic Development [Alexey Ulyukaev] that we will provide full access to both media representatives and experts to the information on the progress of the negotiations with the European Union and Ukraine," Shuvalov told reporters.
Shuvalov, who mentioned plans to disclose a draft Russian-EU-Ukrainian memorandum as well, labeled the accusation that Moscow had abandoned the three-way talks as "false and cynical."
Kiev signed an agreement with Brussels on closer political association and economic integration last year.
Moscow has said that should Ukraine benefit from preferential trade rights within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in parallel to being part of a trade free area with the EU, the Russian market would be at risk of being flooded with European goods.
To that end, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to suspend a free trade deal with Ukraine within the CIS in mid-December, effective from January 1, 2016.
According to the Russian Economic Development Ministry, short-term losses to Russian businesses alone due to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement are estimated at $3.5 billion.
