MOSCOW, April 03./ITAR-TASS/. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a resolution cancelling the zero export duty on natural gas for Ukraine.

At a meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on Thursday, April 3, Medvedev said he was planning to sign such a resolution following the termination of the agreement with Ukraine on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The State Duma on March 31 unanimously voted to terminate the agreement with Ukraine on the Black Sea Fleet.

On March 28, President Vladimir Putin submitted to the Duma the law terminating the agreement that set forth the terms of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s stationing in Crimea, which used to be part of Ukraine but voted for secession from it in a referendum on March 16.

When presenting the law in the Duma, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said there were no reasons for the agreement to continue. “The territory of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as a city of federal significance are an inalienable part of Russia now and are under the sovereignty of Russia in accordance with Article 4 of the Constitution. Therefore there are no reasons to continue legal relations concerning the stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet facilities and personnel in Ukraine, including Russia’s obligations to make payments, compensation or other reimbursement to Ukraine,” Karasin said.

He stressed that Russia was ready to discuss with the Ukrainian government legal and financial issues that may arise in connection with the unilateral termination of the agreement by Russia.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev first mentioned the need to terminate the Black Sea Fleet agreement, which he had signed with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, at a meeting of the Russian Security Council on March 21, 2014. He said that Russia would sustain losses worth of 11 billion U.S. dollars in lost profits. “I think it would be legitimate to raise the question of compensation from the Ukrainian budget, which can be done in court in accordance with the provisions of the agreement,” Medvedev said.

“These are tough measures, of course, but on the other hand there is no document but there is the payment we made. And our Ukrainian partners should understand that one does not pay for nothing,” he added.