Kiev to end key accord with Russia

Moscow regrets treaty termination; Putin talks with Merkel on sea dispute

We can only express regret for the fact that the Ukrainian leadership is making such hasty decisions ...” Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed legislation ending the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia, the presidential press service said.

The treaty, which has been in place for about two decades, will be terminated on April 1, amid rising tensions between the two countries.

Under the agreement, which was signed in 1997 and took effect on April 1, 1999, Kiev and Moscow pledged to respect each other’s borders and to peacefully settle disputes. It includes a clause that it automatically extends every 10 years if neither of the parties takes actions to end it.

Relations between Kiev and Moscow, which have been deteriorating since early 2014 over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, escalated last month. On Nov 25, three Ukrainian ships attempting to sail through the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov were seized by Russian forces for allegedly violating the Russian border.

The Ukrainian Navy said that it had informed Russia in advance of the passage, while Russia said it had received no such report and the ships ignored multiple warnings by Russian border guards.

Poroshenko said on Monday that the non-extension of the deal is “a part of the Ukrainian strategy of reorientation toward Europe”.

The bill was approved by the Ukrainian Parliament on Thursday, supported by 277 votes, far more than the 226 minimum required.

The Kremlin later said the decision not to extend the friendship treaty is regrettable and against the Ukrainian people’s interests.

“We can only express regret for the fact that the Ukrainian leadership is making such hasty decisions that, from our viewpoint, are a manifestation of disrespect for their own people and their interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the maritime dispute in phone talks on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

“The leaders continued the discussion of the Kerch Strait situation. They expressed mutual interest in preventing the escalation of tensions in the Azov-Black Sea area and in resolving problems caused by provocative actions by the Ukrainian authorities,” it said.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the European Union blacklisted nine locals involved in last month’s rebel elections in east Ukraine on Monday, but it was unlikely to heed Kiev’s call for more reprisals against Moscow over the tensions in the Azov Sea.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the ministers discussed with Ukraine’s Pavlo Klimkin “the latest developments in the Azov Sea but also, and mainly, the support of the European Union to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian people, to the territorial integrity of the country”.

She said the bloc is studying ways to help bolster the economy in eastern Ukraine, but she didn’t go into detail.

Klimkin asked the EU’s 28 counterparts in Brussels to step up sanctions against Moscow, but the bloc is deeply divided on Russia and is unlikely to act swiftly, if at all.

The bloc is split on whether to go ahead with any new economic sanctions, a move that would require unanimity of all member states.

“We don’t see yet any decisionmaking today,” Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said when asked about more sanctions against Moscow.

Germany’s Haiko Maas said the situation in the Azov Sea remained unresolved as Russia was still holding the Ukrainian sailors. Berlin and Paris were seeking to ease tensions between Moscow and Kiev.