AMSTERDAM: Russia has dropped its demands for a further delay in a landmark EU-Ukraine trade deal at the heart of the Ukraine crisis and accepts that it will now begin next year, the European Union said.
The reference that the (trade agreement) enter into force on 1 January 2016 was not contested by the Russian delegation,” Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said after talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Malmstroem said there was a “clear understanding” that the deal would not be amended and would now be implemented on time.
Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev had “made no threats of retaliation of any kind… and told the EU and Ukraine they could do as they wished,” she added.
Diplomatic sources said last month that Russia was seeking a delay but that its request had not gone down well.
A joint statement after the meeting, attended also by Ukraine Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, said the three sides would step up efforts to meet Russian concerns that its interests would suffer as a result of the trade pact, with officials due to report to ministers by July.
