AlQa'dah 15, 1434, Sep 21, 2013, SPA -- Ukraine's prime minister sought on Saturday to calm Russian fears over Kiev's plans to sign a free trade pact with the European Union, saying in practice there would be no threat to Russia's home market. Moody's Investor Service cut Ukraine's sovereign credit rating on Friday, partly on concern over relations with Russia, Reuters reported. Speaking at an international conference in the Black Sea resort of Yalta, Mykola Azarov also expressed frustration at Russia's refusal to reduce the price of its gas sales to the ex-Soviet republic and said Kiev may be obliged to reduce further the volume of its gas imports. Azarov's government approved plans this week to sign landmark agreements in November with the EU on political association and free trade - drawing new threats of retaliation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia says it fears its market could be flooded by competitive EU goods entering Ukraine free of import duties and being re-exported across the long border with Russia. It says it will introduce counter-measures to mitigate damage and has invited Kiev to join a Russian-led customs union. In the latest expression of Kremlin unhappiness, an aide to Putin told the Yalta gathering that Ukraine would face huge financial problems if it signed the agreements and he urged the Kiev leadership to hold a people's ballot on the issue. Saying 40 percent of Ukrainians were against the signing, Sergei Glazyev, who has made hawkish comments about Ukraine's pro-Europe policy before, said: "Let us ... ask the Ukrainian people what choice they prefer." -- SPA 19:38 LOCAL TIME 16:38 GMT تغريد
