“Before the war, we had 453 signed bilateral agreements. Now about 300 documents remain in force, but a further revision of what we can refuse is ongoing, ”he said, answering the question whether Ukraine plans to suspend or break treaties with Russia in the future.
According to him, the Ukrainian side is not “taking radical emotional steps” that could harm the citizens of Ukraine.
“We didn’t break off diplomatic relations with Russia, we didn’t stop our diplomatic presence in Russia, accordingly, Ukrainian citizens freely moved there before quarantine, and, being in Russia, had the opportunity to get protection,” he explained.
As the diplomat emphasized, if “all agreements are canceled at once”, a stalemate will arise when there is no mechanism to protect the interests of Ukrainian citizens on Russian territory.
He said that to date, the current "are functional contracts" (partially the contractual framework within the CIS and partially bilateral).
“But we are gradually reviewing them with ministries and departments in order to optimize and leave the minimum necessary number of documents that would allow us to maintain an appropriate level of protection of the rights and interests of citizens of Ukraine,” he added.
In the fall of 2019, the Kommersant newspaper wrote that after assuming the presidency of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, Kiev stopped sending notifications to the termination of bilateral agreements to the Russian side, the process of which began under Petro Poroshenko.