Tymoshenko: Ukraine to return to friendly relations with Russia after 'trade war', but on a fundamentally different basis
Ukraine, owing to a "trade war" with Russia, is gaining for many centuries its economic independence from the unpredictable northern neighbor, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said.
"Do not block this natural process, do not produce hysteria around this, and let this historical event happen. I have no doubt that our normal trade relations with Russia will soon be restored. The market will tell. But these will economic relations of a different quality, without a dangerous political component, without political blackmail and attempts to drag us into modern slavery," Tymoshenko said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper, which was published on Monday.
"I'm appealing to all of our businesses that are now oppressed on the northern border: do not believe, do not wait, and do not ask. Do not waste your time. Modernize your enterprises. Look for new markets and be invincible. The fate of Ukraine's economic independence is now in your hands," she added.
According to Tymoshenko, Ukraine, "through financial losses and economic pain, is cutting the umbilical cord of its dependence from risky, dangerous and politicized markets, which most likely resemble a minefield, rather than a free trade area."
"Russia is itself killing in Ukrainians their nostalgia for the past, 'Soviet welfare,' calls into question the sincerity of the brotherhood of the three Slavic nations, makes each Ukrainian citizen a normal Ukrainian nationalist, breaks all ideological compasses of the past in the minds of pro-Russian people, and gives them a positive European mood. Nobody could have done this work for Ukraine as qualitatively and quickly as Russia itself," Tymoshenko said.
"We, Ukrainians, will soon return from a trade, energy and humanitarian war to friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Russia, but on a fundamentally different basis – as a free European country that owes nothing to anyone," she said.
