Ukraine to ink EU association deal if favorable terms offered: PM

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kiev will sign an association agreement with the European Union if favorable terms are offered, Ukraine’s prime minister has said, according to RIA Novosti.

“We should get normal favorable terms, and then we will sign it,” Mykola Azarov said in a late-night interview with Ukraine's national broadcaster, Inter TV. He stressed that signing the EU deal now would plunge the country into crisis.

Ukraine stunned Europe last month by announcing that it was giving up pursuit of an association agreement and trade pact with the EU, favoring ties with the Moscow-led Customs Union trade bloc instead.

Kiev reached agreement with Russia this week for a $15-billion loan from Moscow and a more than 30 percent cut in the price of Russian natural gas. The deal helped the country stave off the imminent threat of economic and social collapse, Azarov said.

“We will become stronger, like in 2011 that was a wonderful year for us. We will then conclude our negotiations with the European Union and sign the agreement. The question is only about the time,” Azarov said.

Russia announced that it could draw on its national wealth fund to buy $3 billion in Ukrainian eurobonds by the end of this week, making a swift start to its plans to provide $15 billion worth of credit to its cash-strapped neighbor.

The Ukrainian government will spend the first tranche of the Russian aid package on social benefits and wages, the Ukrainian prime minister said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that his government currently has no answer to how potential negative economic consequences of the free-trade zone agreement with the EU could be reduced to acceptable levels.