Ukraine signs trade agreement with EU, draws Russian threat

Ukraine signed on Friday an historic free-trade agreement with the European Union that has been at the heart of months of violence and upheaval in the country, drawing an immediate threat of ‘grave consequences’ from Russia. Georgia and Moldova signed similar deals, holding out the prospect of deep economic integration and unfettered access to the EU's 500 million citizens, but alarming Moscow which is concerned about losing influence over former Soviet republics. All three countries have made clear their ultimate goal is membership of the bloc but Brussels, under pressure from voters weary of further EU expansion, has made no promise it will allow them in. Ukraine's former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovich turned his back on signing the EU agreement last November in favour of closer ties with Moscow, prompting months of street protests that eventually led to his fleeing the country. Soon afterwards, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, drawing outrage and sanctions from the United States and EU, and pro-Russian separatists began an uprising in eastern Ukraine that has claimed hundreds of lives. ‘Over the last months, Ukraine paid the highest possible price to make her European dreams come true, ’Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told EU leaders at a signing ceremony in Brussels, calling it the most important day for his country since independence from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991. Symbolically, he signed the agreement with the same pen that had been prepared for Yanukovich to sign the document last year, according to Reuters.