Ukraine: backing out from EU deal, or bluffing? | beyondbrics:
"Stefan Fuele, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, is racing back to Kiev on Thursday, making his second visit to the Ukrainian capital this week. His mission: to rescue historic association and free trade agreements that both sides say they hope to sign in Vilnius during an Eastern Partnership Summit next week.
His chances: slim. Or perhaps that is just what Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s president, wants him to think.
According to two western diplomats in Kiev, Yanukovich told Fuele this week that he would not sign the landmark agreements – nor meet EU demands to release jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko – unless Brussels and the west at large put more money on the table, most likely through a bailout from the IMF or direct EU funding.
His worlds were matched by deeds on Thursday morning when Ukraine’s parliament – where Yanukovich’s ruling party has a majority – voted not to adopt legislation that would have let Tymoshenko travel to Germany for medical treatment."
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