MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - The Russian State Duma voted to denounce the Russian-Ukrainian treaty on cooperation in using the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait at a meeting on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted the corresponding bill for the State Duma's consideration.
The terminated treaty was signed in Kerch on December 24, 2003. Russia ratified it on April 22, 2004.
A completely new situation surrounding the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait emerged after the Donetsk People's Republic, the Zaporozhye region and the Kherson region joined Russia, a memo attached to the bill said. The sea and the strait now belong only to Russia, it said.
As Ukraine is no longer a littoral state of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, it is necessary to terminate the Russian-Ukrainian treaty on cooperation in using the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, the document said.
The memo also said the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine adopted a bill on February 24, 2023, on denouncing the Ukrainian-Russian treaty on cooperation on using the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, which took effect on March 25, 2023, after being signed and officially published.