SitiWanMahani - Presiden
Rusia Vladimir Putin telah menuduh EU “memeras ugut” dan “mendesak” Ukraine
atas keputusan untuk menggantung persiapan untuk satu perjanjian perdagangan
dengan blok itu. Beliau menambah bahawa keputusan Ukraine akan menjadi jelas
dalam beberapa hari YANG akan datang.
“Apabila
kita mendengar (saya hanya mendapat tahu semalam) bahawa Ukraine telah
digantung - tidak dibatalkan tetapi digantung - rundingan dengan EU dan mahu
mengkaji segala-galanya, kita mendengar ancaman dari EU ke Ukraine sehingga ke
tahap menga-dakan bantahan besar-besaran. Ini adalah tekanan dan ugutan, “kata
Putin pada sidang akhbar bersama dengan Perdana Menteri Turki Recep Tayyip
Erdogan di St Petersburg.
Putin
mengulangi kesediaan Rusia untuk mengadakan rundingan 3 hala dengan Kesatuan
Eropah dan Ukraine pada perdagangan dan ekonomi.
“Kami
bersedia untuk mengambil bahagian dalam rundingan. Untuk tahap tertentu, ini
adalah satu ujian betapa seriusnya adalah niat EU,” kata Putin.
Integrasi
Ukraine dengan EU bukan isu politik, tetapi sesuatu yang ekonomi, tambahnya Putin.
Pada
satu ketika dalam sidang akhbar itu, Putin diringankan mood dengan jenaka -
pada perbelanjaan Amerika.
Seorang
wartawan Rusia membesarkan persoalan panggilan telefon antara Presiden Ukraine
Viktor Yanukovych dan rakan sejawatannya dari Lithuania beliau, Dalia
Grybauskaite. Pembantu Grybauskaite itu, Jovita Neliupšienė, mendakwa bahawa
Moscow telah memberi amaran di Kiev keluar perjanjian EU, kata wartawan
tersebut.
Putin
berkata beliau tidak mempunyai maklumat tentang apa yang dikatakan dalam
panggilan, tetapi menambah, tersenyum, bahawa mungkin soalan perlu ditanya dan
bukannya untuk Amerika Syarikat.
“Saya
tidak tahu apa yang presiden Ukraine dan Presiden Lithuania telah bercakap
tentangnya. Mungkin kita boleh bertanya kepada rakan-rakan kami Amerika dan
mereka boleh memberitahu kita. Tetapi mereka tidak berkata apa-apa kepada kami
lagi, “kata Putin, nampaknya merujuk kepada skandal terbaru dengan program Agensi Kesela-matan pengawasan Kebangsaan Amerika Syarikat dan menoreh telefon pemimpin EU.
Kerajaan
Ukraine menandatangani darjah (degree) Khamis menggantung persiapan untuk perjanjian
persatuan antara Ukraine dan EU. Penggubal undang-undang berkata, keputusan itu
diambil selepas Kiev dianggap kesan persatuan mengenai hubungan perdagangan
dengan Moscow.
Rusia
menyambut keinginan Kiev untuk menyalakan semula hubungan dengan Moscow, dan
Putin berkata (said) bahawa dia tidak sepenuhnya terhadap persatuan Ukraine dengan EU.
Presiden Ukraine bagaimanapun berkata negaranya akan meneruskan usaha ke arah
integrasi Eropah, walaupun “bermasalah.”
Putin
berkata Jumaat bahawa selepas keputusan Ukraine, kedua-dua negara kini
mempunyai perjanjian ZON perdagangan bebas.
“Ia
bermakna bahawa dalam kumpulan produk yang banyak, sangat sensitif kepada
kedua-dua negara, kita mempunyai eksport sifar dan tarif import. Tahap
perlindungan adat wilayah kita dalam hubungan dengan rakan-rakan EU adalah
sangat berbeza. Kami telah mencapai status ini sebagai hasil rundingan dalam
rangka kerja Pertubuhan Perdagangan SeDUNIA, yang telah dijalankan sejak 17
tahun yang lalu.”
Presiden Vladimir Putin semasa mesyuarat dengan Perdana Menteri Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolskyi - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Putin:
EU blackmailing Ukraine over halt in trade deal
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has accused the EU of "blackmailing" and
“pressuring” Ukraine over its decision to suspend preparations for a trade pact
with the bloc. He added that Ukraine’s decision will be clear in the next few
days.
"When
we heard (I just found out yesterday) that Ukraine has suspended – not canceled
but suspended – negotiations with the EU and wants to review everything, we
heard a threat from the EU to Ukraine up to the point of holding mass protests.
This is pressure and blackmail," Putin said at a joint press conference
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg.
Putin
reiterated Russia's readiness to hold three-way talks with the EU and Ukraine
on trade and the economy.
"We
are ready to participate in the negotiations. To a certain extent, this is a
test of how serious the EU’s intentions are,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s
integration with the EU is not a political issue, but an economic one, Putin
added.
At
one point in the press conference, Putin lightened the mood with a joke – at
America’s expense.
A
Russian journalist brought up the question of a phone call between Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych and his Lithuanian counterpart, Dalia Grybauskaite.
Grybauskaite’s aide, Jovita Neliupšienė, claimed that Moscow had warned Kiev
off the EU deal, the journalist said.
Putin
replied he had no information about what was said in the call, but added,
smiling, that maybe the question should be asked instead to the United States.
“I
do not know what the president of Ukraine and the president of Lithuania were
talking about. Maybe we can ask our American friends and they can tell us. But
they haven’t said anything to us yet," Putin said, apparently referring to
the latest scandal with the US National Security Agency’s surveillance program
and their tapping of EU leaders’ phones.
Ukraine’s
government signed a degree Thursday suspending preparations for the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU. Lawmakers said that the decision was
taken after Kiev considered the effects of the association on its trade
relations with Moscow.
Russia
welcomed Kiev’s desire to rekindle ties with Moscow, and Putin said that he
wasn't completely against Ukraine's association with the EU. The Ukrainian
president however said that his country would continue its efforts towards
European integration, despite the “difficulties.”
Putin
said Friday that after Ukraine’s decision, the two countries now have a free
trade zone agreement.
“It
means that in many product groups, very sensitive to both countries, we have
zero export and import tariffs. The level of customs protection of our
territory in relations with EU partners is very different. We have achieved
this status as a result of negotiations within the framework of the World Trade
Organization, which were carried out over the past 17 years.”
5 reasons Ukraine stepped away from the EU
5 reasons Ukraine stepped away from the EU
READ
MORE: http://on.rt.com/zq4nb7
