According to Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, recently Juncker wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that deepening trade ties between the EU and EEU depends on European countries and should be coordinated with the peaceful process in Ukraine.
Advertisement
Since conceding that a Russian airliner was downed in the Sinai by a terrorist bomb, Moscow has unleashed a series of punishing air strikes against Raqqa, the Islamic State’s headquarters in Syria.
“There is a high probability that we will have to unilaterally protect our market against uncontrolled access of products through Ukrainian customs, products of third countries, primarily countries of the European Union”, Ulyukayev said on Wednesday.
In the letter, written after a G20 summit in Turkey and seen by Reuters, Juncker underlined the importance he attached to good relations between the European Union and Moscow, “which to my regret have not been able to develop over the past year”.
Putin said that rather than seeking $3 billion in debt repayment this year, Russian Federation would be willing to agree to payments of $1 billion a year in 2016-18.
Under the conditions of its debt restructuring, Ukraine is prevented from giving holdouts better terms than those agreed to by other bondholders.
In Kiev, the party backing the president has occasionally struggled to muster the necessary votes to pass required legislation, such as amendments to the constitution that would devolve greater powers to local governments.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said sanctions will remain in place until a peace agreement is fully implemented.
“This will need to be reflected in the upcoming review of our sanctions, ” he said.
USA resolve has also stayed firm, officials say.
The proposal calls into question the implications for Ukraine’s other bondholders, including Franklin Templeton, which reached a $15 billion restructuring agreement with the government in August that involved writing down 20 percent of the face value of their holdings.
The increasingly fractious parliament also has threatened to undo measures that are key to its $40 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.
Advertisement
Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow contributed to this article.
