With Ukraine on the menu, the meeting of the EU’s 28 with their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov is taking place inauspiciously on Monday 16 December in Brussels, with each side proffering harsh words about the other.
Thus the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, upon arriving : "Sometimes [Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych] says he wants to sign [the Association Agreement] in the near future -- these were the words he used in Vilnius. The other day he says that he is going to fire those who negotiated the agreement. If you can make sense out of that, his policy, [you are] welcome [to]. I fail."
Also, continued Bildt : "What we have seen form the Russian side is that they have launched a rather extensive propaganda campaign based on misinformation and sometimes outright lies against the [Association] Agreement. That of course has an impact and they have also undertaken fairly extensive trade measures. So it is both a propaganda war and economic pressure that they are exerting against Ukraine."
As for the British Foreign Secretary William Hague, he said :
"What we have seen form the Russian side is that they have launched a rather extensive propaganda campaign based on misinformation and sometimes outright lies against the [Association] Agreement. That of course has an impact and they have also undertaken fairly extensive trade measures. So it is both a propaganda war and economic pressure that they are exerting against Ukraine.”
Most EU foreign minister who spoke to the press insisted that "the door remains open" for Ukraine to sign the agreement. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign-policy chief also said she believes any "short-term" financial concerns that prevented Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from signing an accord on closer relations with the bloc can be resolved.
The EU announced on December 15 it was suspending talks with Kyiv on the landmark trade and political pact. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele posted on Twitter that the work and deeds of Yanukovych and his government on the deal were "further and further apart."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Yanukovych will meet Putin tomorrow, Tuesday in Moscow, for a menu based on trade and a lower price for the Russian gas on which Ukraine is totally dependent.