Raising the Stakes of a Russian Strangulation of Ukraine’s Economy
A number of recent comments, by more or less high-ranking Russian officials, on Ukraine’s immanent inclusion into the European unification process has led to a Russian-Ukrainian war of words, with some Moscow commentators reacting ever more hysterically. The Russian President Putin’s official advisor on economic integration, Sergei Glazyev, said recently that Kyiv’s signature under the Association Agreement with the European Union will be “economic suicide,” a “surrender of sovereignty,” and a “violation of the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty on which the entire foundation of our relations is built.” Russia is seemingly preparing a whole battery of “reactive” measures concerning both its exports to Ukraine, above all in the energy sphere, and its imports from Ukraine, in a number of sensitive trade areas. Large sections of the Ukrainian economy are de facto dependent on Russia. This concerns both the availability of Russian markets to Ukrainian producers, and the delivery of R...