Petro Poroshenko a `Nazi`, Ukraine-EU trade deal `illegitimate`: Putin`s aide

Zee Media Bureau

Moscow: Sergei Glazyev, the senior advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Thursday slammed Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, calling him a “Nazi”. Glazyez also called the controversial Ukraine-EU deal as an “illegitimate” one. Glazyez comments come as Ukraine is all set to sign a economic and trade agreement with the European Union. The Ukraine-EU trade deal is 1,200-page document filled with rules on everything from turkeys to tulips, cheese to machinery. Ukraine and the EU are scheduled to sign economic chapters of the comprehensive Association Agreement June 27, which would remove tariffs on around 90 percent of the goods traded between the two sides. Earlier, too the economic aide to the Russian President had termed the proposed deal as “suicide for Ukraine”. The deal will lower trade tariffs and in theory open Ukraine to Europe’s market of 506 million people — if Ukraine can comply with the many complex provisions in the 1,200-page document, which will take 10 years to fully implement. The EU trade agreement is far more than a technical document of interest to businesses. In some ways, it is the spark that lit Ukraine’s revolution in February, when President Viktor Yanukovych backed out of signing the deal in November under pressure from Russia. Protests in Kiev mushroomed into a broader expression of disgust with the country’s misrule and corruption — and wound up driving Yanukovych from office.