Ukraine terminates 116 agreements with Russia, Belarus and CIS

Ukraine has taken another step in severing its legal ties with post-Soviet structures, terminating 116 international agreements previously concluded with Russia, Belarus, and within the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The decision was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on March 25 and announced by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in a statement on Facebook.

According to Sybiha, the move was initiated by the Foreign Ministry and involved several legal mechanisms: 25 agreements were suspended, three were formally denounced, and Ukraine withdrew from 88 treaties. The breakdown includes five agreements related to Russia, 23 to Belarus, 87 within the CIS framework, as well as one trilateral agreement involving all three countries.

Sybiha said the overhaul of the treaty framework is intended to bring Ukraine’s international obligations into line with the realities of the ongoing war and the evolving European security architecture. He added that the main phase of this process has effectively been completed, taking into account earlier presidential decrees and legislative measures adopted by the Verkhovna Rada.

“This is my principled position as minister—to get rid of everything that could weaken Ukraine, to cut off all that once tied us to the aggressor state, and to build a serious, strategic and long-term line of defense for the free world on Ukraine’s eastern border, or even further beyond it,” Sybiha stated.

Although Ukraine formally ceased participation in CIS governing bodies in 2018, it had remained a party to a number of interstate agreements, the termination of which has been carried out gradually over recent years.

By Tamilla Hasanova