Ukrainian goods will enjoy no benefits on the Russian market as part of the CIS free trade area if Ukraine signs the Association Agreement with the EU.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this at a press conference following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the level of the heads of state in Minsk on October 24, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We reserve the right to use the sixth protocol to the free trade agreement in order to protect our market. This does not mean that we will ban imports of Ukrainian goods to our market, but this means that these goods will not enjoy benefits as part of the free trade area," Putin said.

He said that Ukrainian goods would be in the same position as goods from other countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Putin said that if Ukraine signs the agreement with the EU, it will have to adopt the technical regulations of the European Union.

He said that for this purpose Ukraine would need substantial funds to modernize its economy.

"According to our rough estimates, the issue concerns hundreds of billions of euros. Do they have these sources? When a country fully joins [the EU], it gets loans, benefits, but Ukraine does not join [the EU] in full," Putin said.

Putin said that this situation can lead to the ousting of Ukrainian goods to the markets of the Customs Union countries.

"If we take into account the fact that Ukraine and Russia are members of the [CIS] free trade area, then it will definitely lead to the ousting of their goods to our market," he said.

When asked to comment on Russia's position regarding the signing by Ukraine of the Association Agreement with the EU, Putin said that Russia is neither "for" nor "against" this, because this is the right of Ukrainian citizens.

When asked whether Ukraine will be able to join the Customs Union after signing the Association Agreement with the EU, Putin said that this was impossible.

Ukrinform