BRUSSELS. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has said that he does not think that Ukraine and Moldova will ever become members of the European Union, and the planned signing of an association agreement with the EU will negatively impact Kyiv's cooperation with Moscow.
"For states like Ukraine and Moldova, the signing of an association agreement with the European Union does not mean their actual entry into the EU. It is a big difference," Rogozin told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.
These two states' "European prospect" itself is "very obscure," he added.
"They are highly unlikely to ever join the European Union. But today they will sign under their rules, pledging to abide by someone else's norms and standards," Rogozin said.
The Russian deputy prime minister compared this situation with the status of candidates seeking entry into a political party. "They have to obey the party's charter and they carry certain responsibilities and obligations, but they have no rights," he added.
In Ukraine, this circumstance may result in the destruction of traditional "horizontal" ties of cooperation, primarily with Russian enterprises, Rogozin said.
Russia will not be able to cooperate with Ukraine as usual if Ukraine starts to abide by economic development rules other than those that existed before, he said.
Rogozin also predicted a drop in industrial production in Ukraine.
"I think they ought to realize that in this case we will not be able to treat them as a neutral state simply because their standards will be different. It means that we will be unable to place some sensitive technologies there, and we will have to keep them solely on the territory of the Russian Federation. This might create major problems concerning the future of the aircraft building sector, contacts in space exploration and a large number of other areas," the deputy prime minister said.