Ukraine to terminate friendship treaty with Russia
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has confirmed that Ukraine intends to end the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty.
“Today we have come adequately prepared and legally protected for the next step: terminating the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which through Moscow’s fault has been anachronistic for a long time already,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with the Ukrainian ambassadors in Kyiv.
“I am expecting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide the set of documents needed to start implementing this process soon,” he noted.
The Russian-Ukranian Friendship Treaty was signed on May 31, 1997, for a period of 10 years and automatic extension for subsequent decades, provided the parties do not object. It establishes the principle of strategic partnership, recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, respect for territorial integrity, and the mutual obligation not to use one’s own territory to harm the other’s security.
The treaty’s first period started with the date it came into force (April 1, 1999) and ended on April 1, 2009. By October 1, 2008, neither party had expressed the desire to end the treaty, and so it was automatically extended for another decade.
According to article 40 of the treaty, it is automatically extended for subsequent 10-year periods, unless one party gives written notice of its desire to terminate at least six months before the end of the current 10-year period.