REUTERS
Trade war with the Russian Federation has cost Ukraine over $1 billion, Hromadske Radіo reports referring to the statement by Deputy Minister of Infrastructure for European Integration Viktor Dovhan.
"The situation is really difficult. The losses due to the transit restrictions on the territory of the Russian Federation account for more than $1 billion, which is about 2% of GDP. These are direct losses for exporters who have lost their markets, as well as losses for carriers," he said.
According to Dovhan, in fact, all of Ukraine's exports delivered to third countries by rail or road via the territory of the Russian Federation have been blocked.
Read alsoRussia bans freight transit in wagons of 10 Ukrainian rolling stock operators"This is perhaps the unique case of a transit war, when the Russian Federation from January 1, 2016 restricted our transit to Kazakhstan for the period of six months, and then on July 1, the restrictions were extended until the end of 2017, and applied to the transit to Kyrgyzstan.
Moreover, the Ukrainian exports to other countries of Central Asia were restricted as well, Dovhan said.