Ukraine has requested the European Union to become an interested third party in its dispute with Russia in the World Trade Organization over the blocking of Ukrainian transit, while Russia rejected such move, according to Nicholas Burge, Head of Trade and Economic Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
Despite the initial refusal, Russia will not be able to do so at the next stages of the Ukrainian claim`s consideration, Mr Burge said Tuesday at a round table in the framework of the joint project of UNIAN and the EU Delegation to Ukraine titled #EUkraine.
There is one particular claim, which Ukraine lodged with the WTO concerning the ban on Ukrainian transit via the Russian territory introduced by Russia earlier this year, according to Burge. In this particular case, Ukraine asked the EU to become an interested third party.
Nicholas Burge said the first reaction the EU heard from Russia was the rejection of such move.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian Ministry of Economic Development emphasized that the introduction of Russian restrictions on the transit of Ukrainian goods was economically and legally unfounded and was expected to lead to an artificial deterioration of Ukraine`s terms of trade with the third countries, particularly in Central Asia.
On September 15, it was reported that Ukraine had started the procedure within the framework of the World Trade Organization to challenge the decision of the Russian Government to impose an embargo on the transit of Ukrainian goods via the Russian territory toward third states, in particular Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
