Ukraine’s Poroshenko signs law terminating Friendship Treaty with Russia

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday signed a law terminating the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia. Ukraine’s parliament, Verkhovna Rada, upheld the president’s decision not to extend the Treaty on December 6. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had already notified the Russian Foreign Ministry in late September that the document would be terminated on April 1, 2019. Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that the decision not to extend the treaty “should be considered not just as an episode but as part of our strategy to finally break with our colonial past and pivot towards Europe.” He sees “visa-free travels, the Ukraine-EU Association agreement and a tomos of autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church” as well as withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States, as parts of this strategy.