Comments by "Valen Ron" (@valenrn8657) on "What’s Going on in Ukraine?" video.

  1. Date: Jan. 7, 2010 Yanukovych: Ukraine will remain a neutral state. "It’s certain that Ukraine was and will be non-aligned state… We strive neither to join NATO nor the [CIS]CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization]. We’ll maintain a neutral status," Yanukovych said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine newspaper. -------- Before Euromaidan, Russia, however, has successfully used political and economic leverage to dissuade Ukraine from signing the E.U. deal. In the months prior to the Vilnius summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in a trade war with Kiev, blocking nearly all imports from Ukraine and cutting energy supplies to the country. In turn, this reduced Ukrainian exports by 25 percent and shrank the economy by 1.5 percent. Some trade background for the context From Tradebarrier Index (lower score = less trade barriers) New Zealand's tariff score is 2.92 Australia's tariff score is 3.03 UK's tariff score is 3.94 (after Brexit) Japan's tariff score is 4.05 US's tariff score is 4.54 Germany's tariff score is 4.88 EU's tariff score is 4.88 Russia's tariff score is 6.16 <-------- China's tariff score is 6.8 <------ Russia wants to maintain its higher trade protectionist policies. UK leaving the EU and joining CPTPP proves freedom of association. ------ According to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's constitution forbids the country from hosting foreign military bases after 2017. Yanukovych breached the Ukraine Constitution 1991, Article 17. In 2018, President Petro Poroshenko's constitution amendment allowed temporary foreign military bases.
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