Kiev wants to apply to WTO over Russian import ban, limited transit

KIEV, Jan 19 (PRIME) -- Kiev plans to complain to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as it believes that Russian embargo on food products and restrictions on transit of Ukrainian goods to Kazakhstan contradicts to WTO norms, Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Natalya Mikolskaya said at a briefing on Tuesday.

“At present, we expect WTO members to support Kiev over the Russian agricultural ban,” Mikolskaya said, adding that Ukraine plans to raise the issue at the next meeting of the WTO in the second half of February.

“The next step is to initiate consideration of the disputes, primarily over the transit. We believe that all actions of the Russian Federation contradict general principles of the WTO, the Russian obligations, which it undertook by joining the WTO.”

Russia introduced customs duties on Ukrainian products, an agricultural ban on import from the country and allowed Ukraine to export its goods to Kazakhstan through the Russian territory only from Belarus from January 1.

The agreement on a free trade area between the CIS-countries and Ukraine was abandoned because the E.U. and Kiev agreed to launch a free trade zone from 2016. The Ukrainian government prohibited Russian imports and adjusted customs duties for the country’s goods in retaliation.

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