"Today a working visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was planned. A decision has been taken to postpone this visit," the Kremlin's chief foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov said in a terse statement, quoted by Russian news agencies. He said additional time was needed to work on the documents that were planned to have been signed on the visit. It is highly unusual for a visit by a foreign leader to Russia to be cancelled after being officially announced. The Kremlin had said on Monday night that Yanukovych was coming for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
The Interfax news agency said the visit had been cancelled because of disputes over the terms of Kiev's association with the Customs Union. "The bone of contention was Ukraine's desire to find a formulation for joining separate chapters of the Customs Union" which would not contradict its future signing of an Association Agreement with the EU, an informed source told the news agency.
The Customs Union is a free trade zone that is a cherished project of Putin to revive Soviet-era ties. It currently includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The source told Interfax that Ukraine wanted to defend its economic interests without damaging Kiev's hopes of EU integration. "The stakes are very high and no-one wants to hurry this," said the source, adding that Russia's proposals had not suited Ukraine.