European Commissioner Hahn urges Russia to lift restrictions on Ukraine goods' transit
KYIV. July 12 (Interfax) - European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn has urged Russia to lift the restrictions on Ukrainian goods' transit and called counterproductive possible mirror sanctions of Ukraine in relation to Russian transit.
Hahn said he understood that Ukraine was tempted to retaliate against that move but he believed that would not be good for economic development.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order on January 1, 2016, demanding that international cargo transit by motor and rail from Ukraine to Kazakhstan via Russian territory shall go exclusively from the territory of Belarus and that seals based on GLONASS global navigation satellite technology and drivers' registration cards be mandatory.
Putin's order dated July 1 was released on July 3 to tighten those norms. From now on, the requirements apply to transit to Kyrgyzstan and a full ban is imposed on the transit of 'embargoed' goods.
The Ukrainian government said on July 4 it intended to take immediate countermeasures and to escalate the trade war with Russia; so far it has only extended the counter-embargo on certain Russian commodities till the end of 2017.
Last week Kyiv raised the question of new Russian transit restrictions imposed in the second half of 2016 at the second meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee and urged Brussels to boost pressure on Moscow for the purposes of immediate lifting of transit restrictions.
