On January 1, 2016, Ukraine acceded to the trade-related provisions of its association agreement with the European Union, ratified by President Petro Poroshenko in June 2014. Ukraine’s entry into Europe’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) was met with scathing opposition from the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia’s free trade agreement with Ukraine effective January 1, claiming that Kiev’s EU trade pact leaves Russian markets unprotected and undercuts Russia’s economic interests. While Russia’s retaliatory response to the Ukraine-EU free trade agreement was predictable, its closest ally Belarus surprisingly announced that it would uphold its own free …read more
Source: The Huffington Post
