VILNIUS, November 29 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia and Moldova signed association agreements with the European Union at a summit Friday as another ex-Soviet country, Ukraine, confirmed it would not go ahead with a similar deal.
The preliminary agreements with Georgia and Moldova, which are set to be ratified next year, put the two countries on a path to stronger economic ties with Europe amid a wider EU push to integrate Eastern European and Southern Caucasus nations formerly ruled from Moscow.
The Eastern Partnership summit began Thursday in the small Baltic state of Lithuania despite Ukraine’s surprise announcement last week that it would not sign the long-planned association agreements.
Residual hopes that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych would change his mind appeared to have been dashed Thursday evening after leaders met behind closed doors.
"It's over," Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the Associated Press news agency Friday, when asked about the negotiations over Ukraine’s signing.
“Ukraine Foreign Minister [Leonid] Kozhara in our discussions confirms that Ukraine has succumbed to severe Russian economic pressure,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted.
EU officials have accused the Kremlin of threatening its smaller neighbor with punitive economic sanctions if it signed the agreements in Lithuania. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the charge.
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