REUTERS

Russia's Foreign Ministry confirms it has received an official note from Kyiv about Ukraine's decision not to extend a friendship treaty between the two countries.

"The note was brought to us by a charge d'affaires on Monday," Director of the Second CIS Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Rudenko told reporters, the Russian news agency TASS said.

"This is formal notification that starting from April 1 this treaty will not be prolonged," he added.

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The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on September 21 officially notified the Russian side of its decision not to extend the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which is expiring on March 31, 2019.

Read alsoUkraine officially notifies Russia of non-extension of Treaty of Friendship

Poroshenko on September 17 signed a decree to enact a decision by the National Security and Defense Council not to prolong the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Under Article 24 of the Law on International Treaties of Ukraine, the president will also submit a relevant bill to parliament.

UNIAN memo. The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was signed by the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin on May 31, 1997. The document fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other. It automatically renews on each 10th anniversary of its signing, unless one party advises the other of its intention to end the treaty. After Russia annexed Crimea and unleashed war in Donbas in 2014, there have been repeat appeals in Ukraine to sever the treaty.