The Russian Federation may denounce the Treaty on Co-operation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait signed in Kerch on 24 December 2003.
By the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin dated 24 May 2023 (No 154-rp), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Galuzin is appointed as an official representative of RF President when considering the issue of the treaty denunciation by the Chambers of the Federal Assembly. The document is available on the official portal for legal acts.
The Treaty on Co-operation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine was signed by Vladimir Putin and Leonid Kuchma in Kerch on 24 December 2003. The document guaranteed free passage for Russian and Ukrainian merchant and naval vessels through the Kerch Strait and free navigation in the Sea of Azov. Conditions have to be created to guarantee free passage.
During the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly held on 21 February 2023, Vladimir Putin called on revival of the ports in the northern and north-western part of the Sea of Azov. “We have already begun and will expand a major socioeconomic recovery and development programme for these new regions within the Federation. It includes restoring production facilities, jobs, and the ports on the Sea of Azov, which again became Russia’s landlocked sea…,” said the President.