Ukraine pulls out of border protection memorandum with Belarus, Russia

May 13, BPN. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has approved Kyiv’s withdrawal from a memorandum on border protection cooperation between Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, his press office reported.

The memorandum was signed in April 1994 in Moscow.

On May 6, reports said that the Ukrainian government also withdrew from two treaties with Belarus: a veterinary agreement dating back to August 2002 and a plant quarantine and protection agreement signed in October 2013.

In July 2022, Ukraine terminated an agreement on inland waterways navigation and in February 2023, a search and rescue agreement. It also announced that it will withdraw from other treaties.

In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine. Authorities in Minsk denied Belarusian army troops’ involvement in combat operations on the Russian side. However, Belarus allowed Russian troops and weapons to move freely through the country, use its airspace, refuel and store military equipment and attack Ukraine from its territory.