Third party may be involved in negotiations with EU - Ukraine's first deputy prime minister
KYIV. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The work on a "roadmap" for the implementation of the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, which could speed up the signing of this agreement, may require the involvement of a third party, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Arbuzov said.
"We are speaking about a roadmap that would enable us to list all of the steps that we plan on taking, all the financial issues we face, everything that's unclear and hold bilateral talks, and, if need be, involve some third party, if that becomes necessary," he said on 1+1 television on Thursday, commenting on planned negotiations with the EU.
According to earlier reports, the Ukrainian government and president refused to sign an association agreement with the EU at a summit in Vilnius on November 28-29, saying that they needed to hold three-party talks involving Russia. At the same time, EU officials said that this agreement is a bilateral one and therefore Russia cannot participate in negotiations. The EU officials also said they considered the stance taken by Ukraine as an attempt to delay the signing of the agreement or simply Ukraine's intention to not sign it at all.
Arbuzov said the first technical group of the Ukrainian government will return from a one-day visit to Brussels on Thursday and the next group will go to Brussels next week. He added that he is ready to lead the upcoming visit, but the composition of the group has not yet been determined.