$35 billion in losses from breaking ties with Russia is not enough for Ukraine
Ukraine's exit from the CIS would mean new economic losses for the former Soviet republic due to the termination of agreements necessary for trade with many countries.
This was stated by the President of the Ukrainian Analytical Center, Oleksandr Okhrimenko, at a press conference in Kyiv, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Due to the severance of trade and economic ties with Russia in 2014-2017, we lost $35 billion...
There is a problem that will only grow now. Ukraine was not a full-fledged member of the CIS, but it signed quite a lot of agreements, about 2 thousand. There are a lot of agreements that regulate such things as the operation of customs checkpoints, the operation of the energy system, emergency and rescue services, and so on.
Now problems may arise even in trade with Belarus. Belarus will say: “You left the CIS, we need new agreements.” And she will be right. And out of these 2 thousand contracts there will be 10-20 that we really need.
Nobody thought about the consequences. Most likely, they were thinking about publicity before the elections. But for the bulk of the CIS population, it is no longer PR. But for trading companies, for foreign economic activity, there may be problems out of the blue.
For example, when simply due to the fact that one or another contract is no longer working, the form of registration of the carriage that was used previously does not work either. And this could lead to a drop in the trade turnover that is now going to Belarus,” the expert said.
Ukraine's $35 billion losses from severing ties with Russia aren't enough.