Ukraine’s president has signed a decree unilaterally ending a bilateral friendship treaty with Russia amid an ongoing breakdown in relations.
The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine was signed by the presidents of the two countries in 1997 and ratified by their legislatures in 1998. Russian-Ukrainian ties have deteriorated since Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council moved to scrap the treaty, which committed the two nations to peaceful relations and resolved territorial issues, earlier in September.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on Monday terminating the treaty, his administration announced.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will notify Russia of the treaty’s termination by Sept. 30, the administration cited Poroshenko’s representative in the Rada as saying.
Leonid Kalashnikov, the head of the State Duma’s committee on Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) affairs, said the treaty’s termination would hurt Russian and Ukrainian migrants.
“Apparently, he couldn’t care less about Ukrainians living in Russia,” Kalashnikov was quoted as saying.
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