REUTERS
The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) - Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia - did not support Russia's decision to abolish a free trade area with Ukraine, effective within the CIS framework, a Russia-based UNIAN correspondent reported with reference to a statement of Chairman of the EEU Board Viktor Khristenko following the meeting of presidents of the EEU states in Moscow.
"During the six months it is necessary to develop legal mechanisms that will enable national governments to exercise their rights enshrined in the Union, namely, the right to the unilateral action at a national level in the framework of a supranational system, when there is the right to take retaliatory measures," Khristenko said.
According to him, during this period "monitoring will be carried out not only with regard to the effects of the Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, but also tools will be developed of legal and technical nature regarding the exchange of information."
Read alsoRussian embargo covers Ukrainian agricultural products, raw materials, foodstuffsIn addition, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted that the implementation of the free trade agreement (FTA) between Ukraine and the EU was discussed in a closed format of presidents of the EEU states.
"It is known that from January 1, 2016 the Ukraine-EU DCFTA will come into force. Quite a serious situation emerges regarding a free trade area within the CIS framework. Not only Russia, but all of us have some concerns about it," Lukashenko said.
According to him, "there can be a situation, when the Ukrainian goods will be replaced with EU goods in Ukraine, and their products may find an outlet in our territories."
"There are even more concerns that the goods delivered to Ukraine at zero import duties will find their way to the whole CIS territory within the CIS free trade area if we do not safeguard ourselves," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending the agreement on the free trade area between Russia and Ukraine from January 1, 2016, which was effective within the FTZ framework of the CIS countries.
However, the EU-Ukraine DCFTA will take effect from January 1, 2016. In this regard, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed confidence that the FTA with the EU would compensate the loss for the Ukrainian economy due to the closure of the Russian market in the coming years.