Ukraine’s prime minister sought on Saturday to calm Russian fears over Kiev’s plans to sign a free-trade pact with the EU, but a Kremlin official repeated threats of retaliatory action.
Officials from Ukraine and its old Soviet master Russia clashed at an international gathering in the Black Sea resort of Yalta over Kiev’s plans to sign landmark agreements in November with the EU on political association and free trade.
Moody’s Investor Service cut Ukraine’s sovereign credit rating on Friday, partly on concern over relations with Russia.
Russia says it fears its market could be flooded by competitive EU goods entering Ukraine free of import duties and being re-exported across the long border with Russia.
However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, in a speech to the conference, dismissed the threat of illegal transit of EU goods into Russia as a “hypothetical” one that would not happen in practice.
“We are convinced that the signing [of the agreements with the EU] does not hold any risks [for Russia],” he said, adding that he would give personal assurances of this to Russia and its trade allies in the Moscow-led Customs Union.
He also expressed frustration at Russia’s refusal to cut the price of the gas it sells to Ukraine and said Kiev may have to reduce further the volume of its gas imports.
Ukraine’s pro-Europe drive has already drawn threats of counter-measures from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as pressure on Kiev to join the Customs Union.
Speaking after Azarov on Saturday, Sergei Glazyev, an aide to Putin, returned to the attack, saying that Russia might be obliged to impose duties on any goods arriving from Ukrainian territory, at a huge financial cost to Ukraine.
Saying 40 percent of Ukrainians had doubts over the agreements with the EU, Glazyev, who has made hawkish comments before about Ukraine’s pro-Europe policy, urged the Kiev government to ballot its people.
“Let us ... ask the Ukrainian people what choice they prefer,” he said.
Azarov had sharp words for Russia over its refusal to cut the price of its gas, which hangs heavy on Ukraine’s cash-strapped economy.
Ukraine pays what it sees as an exorbitant US$400 per thousand cubic meters under a 2009 contract, which Russia has refused to redraw.
In a bid to break away from reliance on Russia, Ukraine hopes to find alternative energy sources through shale gas exploration and imports from other sources.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday reiterated that Kiev was committed to signing the agreements with the EU at a Nov. 28 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, marking a pivotal shift away from Russia.
However, he refused to say whether he would free his jailed political rival, former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who the EU says is a victim of “selective justice.”
Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2011 for abuse of office after a trial that she says was a vendetta by Yanukovich.
Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is involved in mediation missions on behalf of the EU to get Tymoshenko released, urged Yanukovich to free her for medical treatment in Germany.
“She is ill. She needs surgery. She needs therapy and rehabilitation,” Kwasniewski said at the conference.
Freeing Tymoshenko now would mean “an absolutely open door” for the association agreement, he said.
Moody’s cut Ukraine’s sovereign debt rating by one notch to “Caa1” from “B3,” citing concerns over foreign currency reserves, new debt issuance and potentially worsening ties with Russia.
Moody’s said it welcomed the forthcoming EU trade pact as positive overall for Ukraine in the medium term, but added: “The short-term credit negative impact of a negative reaction by Russia outweighs these benefits.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was