Kiev May Become Raw Material Appendage of EU - German Media

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk argues that trade relations between Russia and Ukraine will never be as good as before. He hopes to export domestic products to the EU, but the former head of the Ukrainian National Bank is confident that Ukraine will serve as raw materials supplier and sales market for the European countries.

European countries may be interested in the Ukrainian economy only as supplier of raw materials and a market for their goods, the former head of the Ukrainian National Bank Sergei Arbuzov said, cited by Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten.

Contrary to the statements of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, who hopes to export domestic products to EU countries, Arbuzov is confident that without Russia it would be impossible to return to the previous volumes of trade.

When the economic ties with Russia were broken, Ukraine has lost about $7 billion and the volume of its foreign trade decreased by about three times. The economic productivity of Ukraine is very low and European countries are not willing to see Ukraine entering the European market, he argued.

“They see us as just raw materials appendage and a market for their products," Arbuzov said cited by Deutsche Witrschafts Nachrichten.