KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) - The agreement on friendship, cooperation and partnership with Russia no longer makes any sense, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
"To us, this agreement is losing its legal ground to extend it. We consider its further prolongation by another ten years to be inexpedient," Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar told the Verkhovna Rada foreign affairs committee on Wednesday.
The agreement was not terminated earlier because this could damage Ukraine's efforts to prepare a lawsuit against Russia, gather necessary evidence and apply to international courts, he said.
"The Foreign Ministry deemed said agreement to be important from the standpoint of defending Ukraine's interests in courts until the summer of 2018," Bodnar said.
"Now the Ukrainian lawsuit against Russia has already been filed... The termination of the agreement will not affect Ukraine's ability to defend its interests in international courts. And after all the legal procedures it does not matter whether this document remains effective until hearing of the lawsuits begins," Bodnar said.
The Foreign Ministry had notified Russia and the UN secretary general of its refusal to extend the agreement and once Rada makes the decision to terminate the document, Moscow will be notified accordingly, the deputy minister said.