Konstantin Zatulin, a deputy in Russia's State Duma (the lower house of Parliament), has forecast that the State Duma will consider the implementation of the Russian-Ukrainian Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership before October.
Zatulin made the forecast on the Echo Moscow radio station.
Zatulin noted that this agreement is due to expire on April 1, 2009, and that any of the two countries has the right to notify the other by October 1 of its intention to withdraw from the agreement. Otherwise, the agreement will be automatically extended by 10 years.
"In connection with this, we are planning to debate it in the State Duma. We have already done this once, and we will do it again on the eve of October to determine whether implementation of the agreement exists," Zatulin said.
Moreover, he said that Ukraine has changed the basic terms of the agreement in the 10 years since its signing because it has ceased to be a neutral country and wants to join NATO.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, parliamentary hearings entitled "The State of Russian-Ukrainian Relations and fulfillment of Obligations under the Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine" were held in the State Duma on April 1.
The participants in the hearings expressed the view that the current state of Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental relations could not but cause deep concern.
In particular, this applies to the measures taken by the Ukrainian authorities to move away from Ukraine's traditional relations with Russia, the change of Ukraine's status as a country that does not belong to any military bloc, and mass violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.
The State Duma said it was not ruling out the possibility of terminating the agreement.
