MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma, or lower house of parliament, on Thursday will discuss the denunciation of the agreement with Ukraine on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
The relevant bill was submitted to the State Duma by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 24.
The agreement was signed in Kerch on December 2003. It noted the importance of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait for the economic development of the two countries. It was denunciated by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in February.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, "a cardinally new situation around the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait emerged" after the accession of new regions to Russia, with the coasts of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait now belonging solely to Russia.