Russia's continued insistence on a legally binding agreement, which would amount to a reopening of the bilateral agreement between the EU and Ukraine, could not be accommodated, as has been made clear throughout trilateral Russia-Ukraine-EU talks, said European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

"As has been conveyed from the beginning of the talks and reconfirmed by President Juncker last week the DCFTA cannot be amended – neither directly nor indirectly," the commissioner said following the Russia-Ukraine-EU ministerial talks in Brussels on implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which ended in vain.

Malmstrom said that 18 months were spent in extensive discussions on technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), and customs cooperation to accommodate Russia's concerns.

"We were ready to make the efforts needed to reach a joint understanding. Therefore, I was deeply surprised by President Putin's decree of 16 December 2015 that suspends all Russia's obligations towards Ukraine in the framework of the CIS FTA. This measure goes against the mandate, the spirit and the objective of these talks," she stressed.