PM: Door for Ukraine's EU Membership Is Not Open

The Association Agreement with the European Union does not envision a future EU membership of the country, stressed Ukrainian PM Mykola Azarov.

Speaking in a briefing for Ukrainian journalists Friday, Azarov said his country negotiated for such a provision, but was ultimately denied the opportunity.

"No one is calling us into the EU. In the Association Agreement there is no such clause. For two years we have attempted to achieve this, but it was refused," said the Ukrainian PM, as reported by ITAR-TASS.

At the same time, Azarov stressed once more, that in spite of the setback experienced end of November, when the Ukrainian government decided not to sign the Agreement yet, negotiations will be finalized in 2014.

Ukraine's PM expressed satisfaction at the USD 15 B loan deal achieved with Russia, the first installment of which was given over the week.

"The loan has given us sustainability of our currency reserves and opened up financial markets. We received an opportunity to issue credits for our economy, and to lower loan interest," said Azarov.

Thursday credit rating agency Standard & Poor's announced that as the result of the Russian loan, it is upgrading Ukraine's outlook from "negative" to "stable."

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