Ukraine signs Association Agreement with the EU
Ukraine’s interim PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed several chapters of the Association Agreement with the EU on Friday.
Only the political part of the agreement has been signed, with the trade part of the accord, which is the bulk part of the treaty is expected to be signed after the upcoming Ukrainian parliamentary elections scheduled for May 25.
Separately, the EU reconfirmed its intention to further strengthen political association and economic integration with Georgia and Moldova and sign the Association Agreements with these countries “no later than June 2014.”
Friday's developments came at the same time as the upper house of Russia's parliament unanimously voted to incorporate Crimea into the Russian Federation. This resulted in further sanctions from both EU and the US, which added more Russian politicians and businessmen subject to travel bans and asset freezes.
“Russia must understand it cannot continue, that it must take the path of dialogue,” French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.
