The collapse of the association agreement with the EU was prevented only by Barroso's categorical stance, as it was former President Yanukovych's refusal to sign the agreement that led to the Maidan protests.
To persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to conclude a peace agreement, President Petro Poroshenko was prepared to change the terms of the economic part of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement – a revision of tariffs within the free trade zone, something the Kremlin had long sought, The Financial Times reports.
The publication describes the negotiations between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia, with the participation of the President of Kazakhstan and EU representatives, in Minsk in August 2014.
In particular, as the FT reports, during the August 26 talks, Putin continued to deny the presence of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. However, after the Ilovaisk "cauldron," Poroshenko threatened to publish online information from hundreds of dog tags belonging to Russian soldiers killed and captured in Donbas.
Poroshenko urgently needed to stop the pro-Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, and to negotiate a ceasefire, he needed Putin. He had to act quickly: according to a Western diplomat, the Ukrainian president feared he would "lose [his post] in two days" if he failed to secure victory or peace.
In order to establish peace, the FT writes, Poroshenko was even prepared to revise tariffs on numerous goods within the economic part (free trade zone) of the Association Agreement with the European Union, as Russia insisted on.
ZN: In essence, this would mean a refusal to initial the Agreement and the start of new negotiations between Kiev and Brussels on the text of the association.
However, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso opposed this, and as a compromise, it was decided to postpone the entry into force of the economic part of the agreement on the Ukrainian side.
On the morning of September 5, Poroshenko arrived at the NATO summit in Wales with a draft "peace plan" and presented it to the leaders of five countries—Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, François Hollande, David Cameron, and Matteo Renzi. To compel Moscow to implement it, he asked them not to back down from imposing new sanctions.
In exchange, Poroshenko proposed that the European Union take a more flexible approach to concluding a free trade zone with Ukraine, including holding negotiations on revising tariffs, something Putin had insisted on.
According to a person present in the room at the time, Obama responded first: "Is this what Ukraine or Putin wants?" Poroshenko made it clear it was his proposal. Then Obama turned to Merkel and said: "If this is what the Ukrainians want, why not?" She agreed. Many observers note that Obama wanted to reach a peace agreement at any cost."
However, this turn of events did not please Barroso, who had actively fought for the economic agreement. "Barroso's reaction was something like, 'What the hell?'" recalls an American official. After all, it was Yanukovych's refusal to sign the agreement that led to the Maidan protests. If it wasn't concluded as planned, "(we were afraid) he (Poroshenko) would be thrown out, like Yanukovych," says an official who discussed the matter with Barroso in Wales.
Ultimately, at Barroso's insistence, a compromise was found: parliaments would ratify the association, the EU would open its market to Ukrainian goods, but the opening of the Ukrainian market to EU goods would be delayed until 2016.
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