17 December 2013 Ukrainian–Russian action plan

The 17 December 2013 Ukrainian–Russian action plan is a de facto defunct treaty between the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Vladimir Putin on 17 December 2013 whereby it was agreed that Russia would buy $15 billion of Ukrainian Eurobonds and that the cost of Russian natural gas supplied to Ukraine would be lowered to $268 per 1,000 cubic metres (the price was more than $400 at the time). The treaty was signed amid massive, ongoing protests in Ukraine for closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union. The interest rate on the loan would be renegotiated every three months, based on a verbal agreement between the two leaders.

The treaty is de facto defunct since Russia has halted its purchase of Eurobonds since the ousting of President Yanukovich of 22 February 2014 and in April 2014, the Russian natural gas discount was cancelled.

Since December 2015 Ukraine defaulted on the $3 billion debt payment to Russia that was part of the action plan.

In Mid-August 2013 Russia changed its customs regulations on imports from Ukraine.Ukrainian Industrial Policy Minister Mykhailo Korolenko stated on 18 December 2013 that because of this Ukraine's exported had dropped by $1.4 billion (or a 10% year-on-year decrease through the first 10 months of the year). The State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported in November 2013 that in comparison with the same months of 2012 industrial production in Ukraine in October 2013 had fallen by 4.9 percent, in September 2013 by 5.6 percent and in August 2013 by 5.4 percent (and that the industrial production in Ukraine in 2012 total had fallen by 1.8 percent). In June 2010 (a few months after the 2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty), Ukraine paid Gazprom (the Russian government controls 50.002% of shares in Gazprom) around $234 per 1,000 cubic metres of natural gas. In January 2013 Ukraine paid $430 per 1,000 cubic metres. And at the time of the 17 December 2013 agreement Ukraine still paid more than $400. Since August 2011 Ukraine seeks to reduce imports of Russian natural gas by two-thirds (compared with 2010) by 2016. Natural gas is Ukraine’s biggest import at present and is the main cause of the country’s structural trade deficit.

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