Yanukovych's visit to Russia canceled as Kyiv, Moscow fail to reach agreement on terms of Ukraine's accession to Customs Union, says source
Kyiv and Moscow have not been able to reach agreement on the terms of Ukraine's accession to specific provisions of the Charter of the Customs Union, and therefore the meeting of the two presidents has been postponed, an informed source told Interfax-Ukraine.
"A stumbling block in this process was Ukraine's desire to find a formula for joining individual provisions of the Customs Union's charter, which would not conflict with the provisions of the Association Agreement with the European Union, which has already been initialed and is ready to be signed, including the part dealing with a free trade area," the source said.
According to the source, Kyiv is seeking to protect its economic interests in the dialogue with Moscow, preventing Russia from blocking Ukraine's drawing closer to the European Union.
"So the stakes are very high, and no one wants to rush," the source said.
He also added that Kyiv was not quite satisfied with the conditions offered by Moscow concerning Ukraine's accession to the general mechanism of the Customs Union, so the Ukrainian authorities needed more time to study the matter and thoroughly discuss it at an expert level.
As reported, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was to make a working visit to Moscow on December 18. However, the visit has been postponed.