Both Russia, EU saying to Kyiv it cannot be member of 2 customs unions - Russian diplomat
BRUSSELS. Oct 3 (Interfax) - It is up to Ukraine to decide what regional associations it should be a member of, Russian permanent envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told Interfax in Brussels.
"We only consider it our duty to present a realistic picture, because there has been a lot of speculation and illusory schemes on how not to fall between two stools. We are explaining that perhaps the time for illusions is nearly over," he said.
One country cannot be a member of two customs unions simultaneously, because it cannot have different customs duties for two unions, he said.
"I should say that our European Union partners perfectly understand this, and Kyiv is hearing this same reasoning both from us and them. It is another matter altogether how Kyiv interprets it," Chizhov said.
An association agreement with the EU presumes certain legal obligations, and this does not only imply a free trade area, as these obligations concern not only customs tariffs but imply that the Ukrainian national law will contain certain elements of EU laws and regulations, Chizhov said.
"This is not only about tariffs but also about technical regulations and veterinary and phyto-sanitary standards. And, what is not unimportant, especially as regards Ukrainian realities, this is also about provisions of the European Union's energy legal basis, including the notorious Third Energy Package," he said.
This means "the application of the European Union's laws and regulations not only to relations with Ukraine but also to this country's national laws, which will naturally create insurmountable obstacles hindering its accession to our Customs Union and practical obstacles to our further cooperation, including on a bilateral basis," he said.
"And when I talk about bilateral relations, I mean relations between the Customs Union and Ukraine," Chizhov said.
Russia has never objected to cooperation or even strategic partnership between Ukraine or other former Soviet republics and the European Union, and Russia is the European Union's strategic partner itself, Chizhov said. Moreover, Moscow regularly criticizes the EU for its unwillingness to properly interact with Belarus, he said.