Media: Kyiv may break diplomatic relations with Russia
The Verkhovna Rada may decide to sever diplomatic relations with Russia next week, reports Russian publication Kommersant, citing sources in the Ukrainian parliament.
The newspaper claims that Ivan Vinnyk, an MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, correspondingly amended the Law on reintegration of the Donbas.
"In the Law on the reintegration of the Donbas, which the Rada should be considering in its second reading, Russia will be recognized as an aggressor country; I hope that [enough] votes will be mustered up [for it to pass]. To keep diplomatic relations would be a crime on the part of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry after this. These relationships are practically torn apart as it is. We need to fix this gap at the legislative level," Vinnyk allegedly said.
Most MPs in the Verkhovna Rada could vote in favor of this step.
In addition, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry source allegedly said that Kyiv would simultaneously begin negotiations with a third country for its embassy to represent Ukraine's interests in Russia. Potential candidates are Belarus and Switzerland.
On October 7 that President Petro Poroshenko signed a law on the special status of the Donetsk and Luhansk territories, which extended a special order for local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.