Before signing the memorandum on deepening cooperation between Ukraine and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Kyiv should have discussed the matter with the European Union, Ambassador of Lithuania to Ukraine Petras Vaitiekunas has said.

"It came as a surprise for the EU that Ukraine signed a memorandum with the countries of the Customs Union. We would prefer the relations with Ukraine to be more cooperative, based on partnership and trust. If a country wants to do something like that, it needs consult, inform others and discuss such a step with its partners in the EU and Brussels in advance," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the issue of European integration much depends on Ukraine itself, on its citizens, whether they are united in their choice to belong to the European civilization, to join the Eurasian Union or to choose neither.

"This is your choice and your responsibility," the diplomat said.

According to him, one should conduct trade with the whole world without being tied to a single market, but such cooperation should not be to the detriment of the overall integration of Ukraine into the European Union, and specifically to signing the Association Agreement with the EU.

"In my opinion, the current situation is such that Kyiv has to choose between being part of the European civilization with further integration into the EU, or participating in a new civilization experiment, in a new establishment, which is being established in Eastern Europe and Asia. The simultaneous signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union and the participation in the Customs Union, in my opinion, are mutually exclusive," Vaitiekunas said.