KIEV, Jan. 19 - Each year Ukraine exports around $1.8 billion worth of its goods via Russia, but Kiev hopes the negative effects from the transit restrictions Moscow has introduced since the beginning of 2016 will be minimized thanks to alternative new transit routes, said Aivaras Abromavicius, Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Trade.

"We are not expecting any negative impact [from the transit restrictions]. We hope our partners will lift these restrictions as quickly as possible," he told a press conference in Kiev on Tuesday.