Customs checks on Ukrainian goods was a preventative measure - Kremlin aide
MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - The Russian customs services were compelled to take preventative measures after Ukraine initialed the Association Agreement with the European Union in violation of accords earlier reached within the Commonwealth of Independent States, in order to assess the consequences of this step for the Russian market, said Kremlin aide Sergei Glazyev.
"When we were signing the agreement on a free trade zone within the CIS, we reached the understanding that no one would introduce a free trade regime with a major third country without prior consultations. Unfortunately, no such consultations were held," Glazyev said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.
"Ukraine initialed the Association Agreement with the EU unilaterally, without informing us. In fact, we received a document from Brussels and had to translate it ourselves. Only then did we ask our Ukrainian friends how they could have been in talks with us on the Customs Union while simultaneously negotiating an agreement with the EU, something that completely ruled out Ukraine's membership in the Customs Union," he said.
He said a memorandum was signed with Ukraine in May granting it observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union.
In remarks about measures taken by the Russian customs services with regards to Ukrainian goods, he said, "it was a preventive measure to find out to what extent the Ukrainian goods arriving in Russia were really Ukrainian."
The checks conducted have led to adjustments in the so-called "risk profiles" of various groups of goods, Glazyev said.
"What the Russian customs services did was in compliance with our Customs Code. The standards that must always be applied on the border were actually applied," he said.