OCEAN public movement wants support for government decision on 'pause' in signing of association agreement with EU
Kyiv, November 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – OCEAN (the Open Confederation of European and Asian Nations) international public movement supports the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to suspend preparations for the signing of an Association Agreement with the European Union and the trilateral format of cooperation between Ukraine, Russia and the EU.
OCEAN Chairman Vadim Mingalev said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that the movement welcomed the decision by the Ukrainian authorities to take a "pause" in preparations for the signature of the agreement on Ukraine's associate membership of the EU.
He said that "this position is dictated by concern, first and foremost, about the economic interests of Ukraine."
"In fact, it is the right decision," Head of OCEAN Expert Council Vladimir Shevchenko said.
"The postponed decision does not mean that European integration is cancelled and that there will be another vector – this means that these vectors are added together. They are now finding a compromise and there will be a tripartite discussion [between Ukraine, Russia and the EU] in which the decision will be worked out on the creation of a unified integration space.
"Of course, we encourage all of our supporters... to join and support the government and the president in this decision, because this decision was calculated economically and politically."
Shevchenko said that this decision was not confrontational.
"In fact, it's not political, it simply meets the interests of our people," he added.
OCEAN First Deputy Chairman Igor Massolov, in turn, said that "as a result of information war the trade between Ukraine and Russia has declined by a quarter."
"And this despite the fact that nobody has joined any organization... Ukraine, by definition, has no right to lose its relations with Russia, and we are bound by huge cooperative ties," Massalov said.
"Due to the fact that the position of the Ukrainian government has changed, we strongly support the weighted, carefully economically calculated decision in order to achieve a Ukraine-Russia-European Union format , and jointly work out a system of relations within this triangle," he said.