MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma (lower house of the parliament) has denounced an agreement between the Russian government and the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on the establishment and conditions of activity of information and cultural centers.

"It is proposed to denounce the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the establishment and conditions of activity of information and cultural centers, signed in Moscow on February 27, 1998," says the document, denounced at a plenary session.

The agreement provided for the establishment of a Russian Center of Science and Culture, unveiled in leased premises in Kiev in 2007. "According to the explanatory note to the bill, after 2014, it operated in difficult conditions and was attacked by nationalist groups many times. The Center wound up its operation in 2021 after Kiev imposed sanctions on Russia’s agency for international humanitarian cooperation and the Center as its office in Ukraine, according to the explanatory note to the document.

It also says that Ukraine’s Center of National Culture was established and housed in a building that had been bought from Moscow’s Property Fund in November 1998. "The Center suspended its work after the beginning of Russia’s special military operation when Kiev severed diplomatic relations with Moscow and the Center’s Ukrainian employees left for Ukraine. However, the building is still enjoying functional immunity as the agreement is formally in force. According to Article 2 of the agreement, the centers’ activities are administered by the ambassadors. After Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Russia, the implementation of such management is actually impossible," the explanatory note reads.

According to the explanatory note, the future use of the Ukraine-owned building will be regulated by Russian laws. The agreement was signed for a term of five years to be automatically extended for five-year periods until any of the parties notifies the other party about its intention to terminate it at least six months before the expiration of the relevant period. The current five-year period started on April 14, 2022 and was supposed to expire on April 14, 2027. Early denunciation is possible.