Minister Says Ukraine May Sign EU Agreement This Month

Ukraine said Sunday it could sign later this month part of a crucial EU agreement for greater integration, even as the former Soviet state remains in a state of upheaval.

"The political association with the European Union could be signed on March 17 or 21," Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said in an interview with Ukrainian 1+1 television.

The new government in Kiev had already earlier said it planned to sign the political parts of an EU association pact before snap presidential elections on May 25.

The dates given by the minister correspond to a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on March 17, and a summit of EU leaders on March 20/21.

Kiev was close to signing an association pact and free trade deal with Brussels in November but former president Viktor Yanukovych scrapped the agreement at the last minute in favor of closer ties with Moscow, setting off mass protests in the country that resulted in 100 deaths and Yanukovych's eventual ouster last month.

The signing of the EU accord will take place after a March 16 referendum in Ukraine's autonomous Crimean peninsula, whose pro-Moscow leadership wants to become part of Russia amid the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.