Ukraine complains to WTO about new transit sanctions imposed by Russia

Russia’s ban on the import of goods from Ukraine, introduced at the end of last year, violates a number of WTO articles. Ukraine at a meeting of the committee on trade facilitation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has said that Russia does not observe its liabilities regarding freedom of transit, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry has reported on its website on Thursday, February, 14. “In particular, representatives of the Ukrainian delegation drew the attention of members of the committee to the introduction by the Russian Federation of ban on the imports of certain goods into their territory, which move in transit through the territory of Ukraine from third countries that are members of the WTO”, the ministry reports. According to the Ukrainian side, these measures contradict the provisions of Articles 5.6 of the GATT 1994 and 11.4 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and, as a result, create additional barriers to transit, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade specified. On December 29, 2018, the Russian Federation published a government decree that, among other things, prohibits the importation of goods, which were transited through Ukraine, into the customs territory of the Russian Federation according to the approved list. Source: korrespondent