MOSCOW, August 28.  /ITAR-TASS/. Kiev’s hopes for Western sanctions against Russia and military assistance from NATO are ungrounded, Russia’s Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said live on the Rossiya 24 TV channel. 

“What else can Kiev hope for?  For sanctions against Russia and promises of military assistance on the part of the EU and NATO?”  Chizhov said. “ I think these hopes are groundless," he added. 

Introduction of the martial law, which Ukraine’s former prime minister and convict Yulia Tymoshenko has demanded, will rule out the chances for holding an early parliamentary election, Chizhov noted.  Tymoshenko’s trick is easily seen through, he said. 

“Introduction of martial law will automatically rule out the early election where she obviously has few chances to win, while Europe and the US certainly need this election - as much as Mr. Poroshenko does,” Chizhov said. 

Poroshenko slandered the incumbent convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, the national parliament, with dirty epithets - he stopped short of calling it an instrument of dictatorship and accused it of a failure to reflect people’s will. 

The paradox is Poroshenko expects that the parliament of this sort will ratify the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement (AA) on September 16. “ Someone who is sane will never understand what kind of logic this is,” Chizhov said. 

“I think I have an explanation for why they are rushing so much,” Chizhov said. “ Quite possibly, it’d more appropriate for them to wait until the election and to submit the AA for ratification to the newly elected parliament but the EU introduced unilateral preferential measures for Ukrainian commodities and Ukrainian producers are exporting to the European market practically for free now.” 

These measures stay in effect for six months and expire November 1. “ If Ukraine doesn’t start implementing the AA at least provisionally by that time, the EU will automatically have to enact import fees,” Chizhov said. “ They feel reluctant to do it somehow and to prolong these measures, it’s important to assure consensus of all the 28 member-states, which is far from a hundred-percent-guaranteed."