EU, Russia Ready to Offer Incentives to Ukraine

The EU and Russia have both declared their readiness to offer economic and financial incentives to secure closer ties with Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, that she believed the bloc could work with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Kiev's concerns after the Eastern European country refused to sign an Association Agreement.

"We are very concerned when we look at some of the things that are being said, and my purpose in talking to President Yanukovych was to discover what these short-term economic issues are that have prevented him from signing," Ashton said ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting.

"I feel that we can work with him to resolve those. Some of them can be done through the support of the European Union, others through financial institutions, some of them through the private sector. All of them are possible,” she said, as cited by CNN.

Meanwhile, Kremlin adviser Andrei Belousov suggested on December 16 that a loan to help Ukraine cope with its economic difficulties could be agreed at talks between Yanukovych and Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 17 in Moscow.

Belousov did not say how much Russia would offer Ukraine. However, Radio Free Europe reports that sources in Ukraine said the deal could be worth USD 15 B, with Moscow offering some USD 3 B to USD 5 B up front.

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