KYIV. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The law, which terminates the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia on April 1, 2019, has been published by the newspaper Holos Ukrayiny and will take effect on Wednesday, December 12.
The treaty's termination was approved by the Rada on December 6.
According to the law, the termination relieves Ukraine of any obligation to comply with the treaty and does not affect the rights, obligations, or legal position which arose for Ukraine as the result of the implementation of the treaty prior to its termination, in accordance with Article 70 of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties.
Russia violated the treaty by carrying out "armed aggression" against Ukraine, the law says.
The treaty was signed in Kyiv on May 31, 1997, for a ten-year term (with subsequent automatic prolongation unless the parties decided otherwise). It was ratified by Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on January 14, 1998, and by Russia's State Duma on December 25, 1998. It took effect on April 1, 1999, when the two sides exchanged their instruments of ratification.
The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia declared the principle of strategic partnership, recognized the inviolability of existent borders, and affirmed respect for the territorial integrity and the mutual obligation not to use one's territory to the detriment of the other party's security.