What did Russia's acknowledgement on the Friendship Treaty signal?
A look back at the notification over Ukraine's decision not to renew the 1997 treaty, as Russia acknowledged receiving it.
What did it mean when Russia acknowledged that it had been told Ukraine would not renew the Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty? The acknowledgement was reported on 25 September 2018, and this analysis looks back at the position on 26 September 2018, when the notification stood as a formal step in the treaty's final phase.
The agreement, known as the "Big Treaty", was signed in 1997. It fixed the principle of strategic partnership between the two countries, recognised the inviolability of existing borders and respect for territorial integrity, and committed each side not to use its territory to harm the security of the other.
The decision itself predated the acknowledgement. Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, had signed a decree on 19 September 2018 not to extend the treaty, citing the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014 as the reason. Russia's confirmation that it had received notice showed that the decision had been formally communicated and registered by Moscow.
The practical consequence came later. The treaty expired on 31 March 2019, so the notification in September 2018 began the countdown to the end of the main bilateral framework between the two states.
In that sense, the exchange on 25 September 2018 was procedural in form but significant in substance: it marked the point at which non-renewal moved from a presidential decision in Kyiv to a matter acknowledged by both governments.
