abali.ru
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a bill on suspending a free trade agreement with Ukraine for consideration by Russia's State Duma, Duma First Deputy Chairman Ivan Melnikov told reporters.
"The bill will be considered on December 22," Melnikov said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
The day before, the Russian president signed a decree to suspend a free trade agreement with Ukraine from January 1, 2016, "due to exceptional circumstances affecting the interests and economic security of the Russian Federation."
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said earlier that the preferential trade regime with Ukraine should end as of January 1, as the country was "on the threshold of the associated membership of the EU."
"They should be aware that January 1 is the end of the period that we deliberately allocated for tuning our economies while streamlining the existing rules of the CIS free trade zone with the EU regulations. We have specifically negotiated, as we say it, 'among three of us' – the EU, Ukraine and Russia," the Russian prime minister said.
On December 16, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Ukraine was ready to cancel free trade with Russia in favor of a free trade regime with the EU.
"The year-long talks have demonstrated that Russia does not aim at reaching an agreement, but at vetoing Ukraine's integration," Poroshenko said at a joint briefing with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.
The Ukrainian president said he was aware of the impact of those trade limitations [with Russia] on the Ukrainian economy, but stressed Ukraine was ready to pay the price for its freedom and the European choice.