Some Lithuanian MEPs also said that Russia's move to impose imports restrictions for Ukraine may cause the EU to revise its relations with Moscow.
"It is a pressure instrument to keep Ukraine from focusing on Europe and remaining a Russian appendage. First of all, it is a test for Ukraine, not so much for Europe," MEP Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania's former head-of-state, told BNS.
Ukrainian business representatives said earlier this month that Russia had launched a thorough examination of Ukrainian products on the mutual border. In July, Russia ceased imports of a popular chocolate brand.
An adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian commodities would be subjected to more thorough customs procedures, if Ukraine took the “suicidal step” of signing the Association Agreement with the EU.
In Landsbergis' opinion, the Kremlin expects that the Ukrainian businesses that have started to incur losses will start pressuring the government to give up the agreement with the EU.
"However, if Ukraine manages to stand strong, Russia may be defeated in its policies, as, for instance, Ukraine may start realizing that its hopes are pinned with the Free Trade Agreement with the EU and want to achieve it this fall, whatever it takes. And then Ukraine gets its mind straight and it no longer sits on two chairs – it focuses on Europe and directs its commodities to Europe," Landsbergis said.
"Ukraine should also do something to facilitate the agreement with the EU. So, the Russian pressure may help Ukraine do what it has to do," he added.
A similar view was expressed by another Lithuanian MEP Zigmantas Balčytis of the EP Socialist Group.
In his opinion, the Russian pressure should encourage Ukraine to choose the European direction.
"This way, after the Association Agreement is signed, the EU could provide full defense of the country's interests," Balčytis told BNS.
MEP Leonidas Donskis of the EP Liberal Group said Moscow's actions could cause the EU to revise its relations with Russia.
"It seems to me we should shape new policies with regard to Russia in the light of the new realities. Not a boycott but still a very clear line, which cannot be crossed and which the West will not tolerate," Donskis told BNS.
Ukraine expects to sign the Association Agreement with the EU during the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in the end of November, which will be held in the Lithuanian capital in the framework of the country's EU Council presidency.
