Europe “twisting arms” of Ukraine, Russia says

Europe is "twisting arms" of Ukraine, forcing it to give up part of sovereignty and transfer its trade and economic relations under the control of the European Union. This is stated in the draft statement of the Council of the State Duma, which will be discussed at a meeting of the House on Friday.

"In recent years it becomes more and more obvious that the European policy of direct political pressure and frank "arm-twisting", including on internal policy of Ukraine, has forced the official Kyiv to sacrifice a part of Ukraine's sovereignty and to move their trade and economic relations under the jurisdiction of Brussels," a draft statement says.

"The draft association agreement with the EU provides for drastic changes of the whole system of trade and economic regulation of Ukraine, its rejection of the sovereign powers in the field of customs and trade policies, sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures, technical regulations," a draft statement reads.

At the same time, Ukraine will have to change their laws "on the patterns of the European Union without any right to influence decision-making in crucial economy areas".

"In case of  association with the EU, for Ukraine, which will inevitably lose some of its independence, it will be much harder to build a productive economic partnership with Russia and other countries of the Customs Union, as well as to participate in the future Eurasian integration process," the draft states.