MOSCOW/KIEV, (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine yesterday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs.
Putin repeated a promise to honour the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid instalment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Victor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union.
A day after Prime Minister Myeloma Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West. Ukraine’s new interim prime minister promised to try to limit the economic damage inflicted by the sometimes violent street protests, and said he expected Russia to disburse a further $2 billion aid instalment “very soon”.
Putin had less of a sense of urgency. “I would ask the (Russian) government to fulfil all our financial agreements in full,” he said, repeating a promise made on Tuesday after the government resigned in Kiev.
