SPOILER! Kattints ide a szöveg elolvasásához!Yet the pressure coming from Putin has now become crippling, threatening the destiny of Ukraine’s 64 million-strong population. After days of Ukraine’s internationally renowned confections company Roshen’s exports being denied access to Russian territory, an all-out trade war then became a clear blackmail coming from the Kremlin. All Ukrainian exports entering into the zone of the Russian-led customs union, in which Belarus and Kazakhstan also take part, were then forced to undergo laborious checks, as Moscow had deemed every single item as potentially dangerous.
According to the Federation of Ukrainian Employers, a business lobby group, a trade restriction, predicted heavy losses for Ukrainian businesses. “De facto, there is a complete halt on Ukrainian exports. Actions of the Russian side could incur losses … up to 2.5 billion US dollars in the second half of this year,” said the federation in a statement last week. Over 60 per cent of Ukraine’s exports go to the former Soviet republics, predominantly Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Yet the words of Sergey Glazyev, a senior economic advisor to President Vladimir Putin, were unforgiving: “We are preparing to tighten customs procedures in case Ukraine suddenly makes this suicidal step of signing the EU association agreement,” the statesman told RIA Novosti.
https://neweasterneurope.eu/2013/09/03/surviving-vladimir-putin-s-blackmail/