Tough Choices Ahead For Kiev

Political tensions are rising between Ukraine and Russia, as the former moves into the concluding stages of negotiations regarding its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the European Union. We expect Russia to step up its efforts to dissuade Kiev from pursuing greater ties with the EU. Ultimately we believe that Kiev and Moscow will come to some sort of agreement in exchange for Ukraine shelving the DCFTA. Nevertheless, we caution that tensions are likely to remain elevated in the near term as Russia and Ukraine continue to pursue aggressive lines of bargaining, and we do not rule out diplomatic ructions coming to a head.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: