ISTANBUL (Sputnik) – The European Union has drawn up a draft document over lifting economic risks from Russia from the Kiev-Brussels association, but Moscow is not satisfied with it, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukaev said Tuesday.
"When we met last time in Brussels for a ministerial meeting we agreed that our colleagues would propose their alternative to the draft document we had prepared in June, which, in our opinion, allows to regulate our arising risks and worries," Ulyukaev told journalists.
"Tomorrow we’ll have a meeting of experts of the three sides – Russia-Ukraine-EU in Brussels," Ulyukaev told journalists after talks with European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom.
According to the minister, experts of the three sides – Russia-Ukraine-EU – will meet on October 7 in Brussels for further talks on the issue.
In June 2014, Ukraine and the European Union signed a landmark association agreement aimed at bringing Kiev and Brussels closer together, both economically and politically. It specifically seeks to create a free trade zone between Ukraine and the 28-nation bloc.
Russia, which is Ukraine’s largest single trading partner, has repeatedly insisted on participating in Ukraine's talks with the European Union, warning of its intention to scrap Ukraine’s preferential trade partner status by the end of 2015 unless its concerns were taken into account.
Moscow believes that a free trade area between Kiev and Brussels could result in the uncontrolled flow of European goods into the Russian market. Russia’s objections previously resulted in the association partners delaying the establishment of a free trade zone until early 2016.
