Ukraine cuts relations with Syria, imposes trade embargo

Ukraine breaks off diplomatic relations with Syria and imposes a trade embargo and other economic sanctions against Syrian legal entities and individuals.

The statement came from the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, according to RBK-Ukraine.

The ministry condemned Syria’s decision to recognise the so-called. "independence" of the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

“We consider this decision as an unfriendly act against Ukraine, encroachment on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, a gross violation of Ukrainian legislation, the UN Charter and the fundamental norms and principles of international law. There is no doubt that the Syrian regime is trying to give pseudo-subjectivity to the Russian occupation administrations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the order of its curators in the Kremlin,” the ministry said in a statement.

Therefore, in response to this unfriendly act, Ukraine declares the severance of diplomatic relations with Syria without severing consular relations, in compliance with Article 2 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Ukrainian side is also starting the procedure for imposing a trade embargo against Syria, as well as imposing other sanctions against Syrian legal entities and individuals.

"Our position is clear - we react as harshly as possible to any attempts to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and protect national interests by all available means, including on the diplomatic front," said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

In connection with the crimes of the Bashar al-Assad regime against the Syrian people, the Ukrainian side closed the Ukrainian Embassy in Damascus back in 2016, and also in 2018 ordered the closure of the Syrian Embassy in Kyiv. The interests of Ukrainians in Syria are protected by the Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon.