Ukraine parliament nullifies military cooperation pacts with Russia

Ukraine’s parliament voted on May 21 to nullify five international military agreements with the Russian government. They are agreements on military cooperation, cooperation in military reconnaissance, protecting secret information, military international transits and paying for them, and transiting Russian soldiers through Ukrainian territory to Transnistria in Moldova.

Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the Russian Duma defense committee, said the Russian government will consider other ways to maintain its military presence in the Transnistria region of Moldova, the Interfax news agency reported on May 21. “We need to think about how to act now and find ways,” he said. “We’re not supposed to drop Moldova and Transnistria.” He said he hopes Russia has enough “tolerance at the given stage.”

Zenon Zawada: These nullifications are logical for the Ukrainian government, for the most part. But Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hasn’t acted very logically, clearly isn’t going to like it. The ban on transit has the potential to provoke a sharp reaction. Whereas the West was fearing at this time last year that the Russians would occupy the Black Sea coastline to secure a permanent land bridge to Transnistria, now Russia won’t have any land or air access over Ukraine.

In our view, Ukraine’s parliament could not have passed such sensitive legislation without the tacit agreement of the U.S., given the sensitive talks that its diplomats are currently conducting with their Russian counterparts. These talks have helped to avert an assault on Mariupol, we believe. Taking into account the nullified agreements and halted Russian offensive, the U.S. must be preparing concessions for the Russians as part of a complex agreement will only be revealed at a later date. These concessions should lead to the fulfillment of the Minsk accords as well.