Ukrainian Leader Sure on EU Pact as Russia Warns of Backlash
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Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said he’s confident his country will sign an accord to cement ties with the European Union this year as Russia threatens retaliation for snubbing its own customs union.
Ukraine plans to sign an Association Agreement and free-trade pact with the 28-member bloc at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on Nov. 29, Yanukovych said in an interview yesterday in New York. Russia has disrupted the passage of Ukrainian goods across its border in recent weeks and has tied requests from its neighbor for cheaper natural gas imports to membership in the customs bloc it created with Belarus and Kazakhstan.