Ukrainian president's Moscow visit postponed

A working visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Russia has been postponed, the president's press service has said on Tuesday.

The press service recalled that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents planned to discuss important issues related to the countries' cooperation, first of all in the spheres of energy, trade, and economic relations. Particularly, the presidents were to develop a mutually acceptable mechanism for interaction between Ukraine and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

"For the successful implementation of these agreements, additional expert consultations are necessary. In connection with this, the sides decided to postpone the visit," the Ukrainian president's press service said.

On Monday, December 17, Kyiv and Moscow said that Yanukovych was to make a working visit to Russia in order to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the development of a mutually acceptable mechanism of interaction between Ukraine and the Customs Union. The sides also planned to tackle a range of important issues concerning the countries' cooperation in the energy sphere, as well as trade and economic relations.

On Tuesday, the Russian president's aide, Yury Ushakov, told journalists that a planned visit to Moscow by Yanukovych had been postponed.

"This decision stems from the need for experts to put the finishing touches to the documents that the sides initially planned to sign during this visit. This work will require time. After this, a new date for the visit will be set," he said.

The visit was postponed "at the Russian and Ukrainian sides' mutual consent," Ushakov said.

Asked about the documents that have not been agreed upon yet and whether they include any gas contracts, the presidential aide said that "they deal with a wide variety of areas of cooperation between our countries, including, naturally, energy, trade, the economy, etc."

"The documents that were supposed to be signed during Yanukovych's working visit were not agreed upon by experts, who need more time to finish their work," he said.

Commenting on a possible date for the Ukrainian leader's visit to Moscow, Ushakov said that it would be discussed later, declining to provide further details.

"I would not like to name any dates because the work on the documents will continue, and it is hard to say how long it will take. The reason is not because there is a lot to do, but also simply due to both presidents' busy schedules ahead of the New Year holidays," he said.