KIEV, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) will ratify the Association Agreement with the European Union in September, President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday.

“We worked hard to make the Association Agreement a reality. And there is no discussion in Ukraine as to whether this important document should be ratified or not,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with deputies from the Batkivshchina party.

Commenting on the results of the meeting, presidential deputy chief of staff Valeriy Chalyi said: “It was stated clearly that there would be no delay in the ratification of the agreement.”

Ukraine and the EU signed the political part of the Association Agreement on March 21; the economic part followed three months later on June 27. Once ratified by the Ukrainian parliament, a comprehensive free trade area will be established between the European Union and Ukraine. The agreement will enter into force in temporary mode two months after ratification.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly said that if Ukraine creates a free trade area with the EU, Russia will have to protect its market from the re-export of European goods via Ukraine.