Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister Valeriy Piatnytsky has denied a report posted on the Ukraine and the WTO website on Wednesday claiming that Ukraine has allegedly pulled out of bilateral talks on Russia's accession to the WTO.
"We have not cancelled anything, we have not agreed to anything, and we have not quit the working group," Piatnytsky said upon return from Geneva, which hosted bilateral negotiations on Russia's WTO entry.
According to earlier media reports, during the Geneva talks, the Ukrainian authorities decided to walk out of their WTO-related bilateral talks with Russia.
The Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper said, referring to Russian delegation head Maxim Medvedkov: "As we expected, the Ukrainian party has refused to hold bilateral negotiations."
The newspaper's source close to the WTO secretariat has said that the Russian delegation managed to persuade Ukrainian officials that today's free trade regulations between the two countries are much more profitable for Ukraine than trade rules within the WTO.
"In effect, Ukraine and Russia have already created a free trade regime. What else can they discuss?" the source said.
