Ukraine ducks EU 'surgery', economy still in pain

A protester gets his face painted with the colours of the European Union flag, during a demonstration in support of EU integration at Independence Square in Kiev November 28, 2013. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - When Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a trade pact with the European Union and turned to Moscow, he put off painful, EU-prescribed economic surgery that could have hurt his re-election prospects.

But he disappointed entrepreneurs who had hoped the EU deal would bring long-term growth by giving them easier access to rich markets and pushing Kiev harder to pursue policies - from cutting red tape and graft to tightening state budgets - that the IMF says would make post-Soviet Ukraine more competitive.