Stop of the Free Trade of the Russian Federation and Ukraine will not affect gas
The Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a suspension as of January 1st, 2016 of the agreement on free trade area with Ukraine, making an exception for the export duty on gas. The corresponding law and decree of the Russian President were published on the official web portal of legal information pravo.gov.ru, - informsInterfax.
The decree, which makes an exception, says that it is about "exporter of natural gas in gaseous state".
The Federation Council approved the law on the suspension as of January 1st, 2016 of the agreement on an FTA with Ukraine.
On December 16th the Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending the Treaty on the free trade zone with Ukraine as of January 1st, 2016 instead of the FTA regime against Ukrainian goods the regime of the most favourable conditions will be applied. Russia believes that the entry into force of the economic association between Ukraine and the EU could have a negative impact on its economy.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Ukrainian government approved a countermeasure against the Russian embargo. In particular, the adoption of two resolutions: to ban the import of Russian goods as of January 10th, 2016, as well as the introduction of import duties on trade as of January 2nd.