EU and Russia decided in Brussels, on Monday 16 December, that Ukraine should be allowed to choose its destiny, a polite, diplomatic formula that means each side should stop criticising the other one’s interference. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Brussels, after meeting his EU counterparts, that Ukraine should be allowed "free choice.” Both Moscow and Brussels signaled they were ready to offer financial incentives to Kiev.
Things didn’t look so smooth before the meeting. Thus the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, said, 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."
Nevertheless, 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 believed any "short-term" financial concerns that prevented Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from signing an accord on closer relations with the bloc can be resolved. Ashton said she feels the EU "can work with Yanukovych to resolve” some financial and economic issues.
"We are very concerned when we look at some of the things that are being said, and my purpose in talking with President Yanukovych was to discover what the short-term economic issues are that have prevented him from signing the agreement" Ashton said. Some of them can be done through the support of the European Union, others through financial institutions, some are the role of the private sector. But all of them are possible."
The EU announced on December 15 it was suspending talks with Kiev on the landmark trade and political pact. On Sunday, 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 Viktor Yanukovych will meet Russian president Vladimir 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.
Yanukovych last month made a U-turn and refused to sign an already-negotiated Association Agreement with the EU at a summit in Vilnius, caving in to pressure from Russia.
Also, on the margins of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, it was also announced that a "swift implementation of voluntary measures by all sides" is key in nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers.
The final statement said the European Union remains committed to the suspension of EU sanctions immediately after the UN nuclear agency verifies the implementation of the nuclear-related measures by Tehran.
Some sanctions will be suspended if Iran sticks to recent promises to halt parts of its nuclear programme. The decision on sanctions is expected in January or February.