MOSCOW, Dec. 17 – Economic relations between Ukraine and Russia will suffer due to the cancellation of the CIS free trade regime for the country on January 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin predicts.

"Unfortunately for us, we are forecasting a deterioration of our economic relations on January 1, because we have to make a decision to stop interacting with Ukraine as a member of the CIS free trade zone on January 1," Putin said at his press conference in Moscow on Thursday.