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Putin: EU putting pressure on, blackmailing Ukraine after suspension of agreement

STRELNA, November 22, 17:06 /ITAR-TASS/. European Union is putting pressure on and blackmailing Ukraine pending a decision of its government to suspend the signing of an agreement on association with the EU, and whether or not that country succumbs to the pressures will be clear within the next few days, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday at the talks with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“When we heard that Ukraine had suspended - not called off altogether - the talks with the EU and that it would like to verify everything, we clearly perceived threats on the part of the EU up to the instigation of mass street actions,” Putin said. “But that’s pressure and blackmail, isn’t it?”

He also said that the measures Russia will have to put into effect in case Ukraine does sign the agreement with the EU will have a purely pragmatic economic character, not the political one.

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