Ukraine, the Russian Ambassador to the EU: “We have tried to give Kiev an objective picture”

Vladimir Chizhov, urged by Rosa Balfour, is not shy in explaining the steps taken to prevent Kiev from signing a trade treaty with the EU

Russia has just “tried to give an objective picture” to Ukraine, when Kiev had to choose whether to sign a trade treaty with the EU or to stay in the Russia’s Customs Union. Calm and collected, maybe not too covertly threatening, Vladimir Chizhov is the Russian Ambassador to the EU, talking about the recent affair stirring European diplomacies.

During a meeting hosted by the European Policy Centre in Brussels, he spoke in front of about 200 people with Rosa Balfour, one of our contributors and Head of the Europe in the World Programme at the EPC. Urged by the questions, Chizhov – with his icy smile – explained that “Russia has just tried to give an objective picture” to Ukraine, which in the end decided not to enter the trade treaty with the EU. For instance, he said, “we reminded them the cars they produce are made according to the security standards they share with Russia and that the treaty would have meant changing them in order to sell in the EU, implying several issues.” In other words, “we explained them it is time to think about the future, considering that most of the protesters on the street did not know the contents of the trade treaty – they’d just thought they would have been allow to visa-free travel in the UE the day after the signing, for instance.”

Moscow is now offering an “indirect” treaty. “It will be possible to establish direct agreements between our Customs Union and the European Union. For sure, it won’t be possible to be a member of both organizations – it would definitely be unconceivable,” Chizhov said.

During the following question time, most questions by the audience were focused on specific bilateral economic issues. At the beginning of the meeting in fact, Chizhov had highlighted the strength of EU-Russia ties: “44% of the gas you use comes from Russia, and our trade exchanges amount to 1bln€ a day.”

It sounded more like “I don’t invite anybody to test Moscow’s patience,” indeed.

Lor