REUTERS
Transit of goods must remain in place in line with the WTO rules, the minister notes.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii has said "it would take some suicidal desire" to propose the restoration of air communication with the Russian Federation in the current conditions.
"As long as that country remains an aggressor, we are at war and do not want to repeat MH17. It is just dangerous for Ukrainians. It seems to me we would take some suicidal desire to propose restoration of this air communication," he said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda online newspaper.
"I'm not talking about geopolitical things. If we restore everything, it means we send the signal to the outside world that everything is fine, we have no problems with them. Then the question is the following: why are we applying for some additional sanctions against them, why do we want to continue communication in the quadrilateral format, the Minsk agreements? Therefore, for now, considering how they behave, I think we can't talk about direct air communication with them at all," Kryklii said.
Former Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan advocated complete cessation of rail communication with Russia. When asked how he regards this situation, Kryklii answered: "This is another issue. Of course, politically speaking, it could be blocked again. I'll voice some figures. For example, 7.7 million tonnes of goods has been transported in transit worth UAH 3.5 billion (US$145.2 million) over the eight months of 2019."
"You know these rail runs are one of the few in passenger transportation that are profitable. Moreover, we have few rail services. We'll probably just create additional obstacles for citizens who still have to go there for various reasons. Therefore, they will travel through Belarus. We have already created good conditions for the Belarusian economy," he added.
The minister also said "we did not have such a threat" to railway communication.
"There have been no such disasters as MH17 on the railway and I hope they won't happen. This is a political issue. If we decide for ourselves that we are completely isolated from Russia, this is another decision," Kryklii said.
"We also have agreements that have not been canceled. The WTO's Article 5 stipulates that transit should take place, and none of the signatory parties has the right to restrict or block this transit right. That is, if we violate the rules of the WTO, this must be solved not only at the Ukrainian level, but also at the international level. Otherwise, it turns out that we are losing our transit potential and violating part of the agreement with the WTO," he added.