Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko says his country has paid “the highest possible price” to achieve the goal of a free trade agreement with the European Union — a goal reached Friday when he signed the deal at a summit in Brussels.
Earlier in the day Poroshenko called the signing “historic,” despite negative reaction from Moscow. Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Ukraine’s move is “fraught with serious consequences.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that controversy over the agreement, which led to the ouster of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Ya-nukov-ych earlier this year, has forced Ukrainians into an “artificial” choice between loyalties to Europe or to Russia. He called for a long-term ceasefire in Ukraine as a condition for talks between Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian separatists.
At the Brussels summit, EU leaders set a Monday deadline for Putin to demonstrate support for calming the unrest in Ukraine.
In a statement issued Friday, the 28 leaders called for Moscow to meet several conditions, including visibly supporting the Ukrainian government’s proposed peace plan, the French news agency AFP reported. Ukraine’s government also should be granted oversight of three major border checkpoints, Reuters reported.
