RUSSIA NOW ALONE IN NOT RECOGNIZING UKRAINE’S BORDERS.

The chiefs of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s legal affairs and border affairs departments told a briefing yesterday that Russia remains the only one among Ukraine’s neighbors not to have recognized Ukraine’s borders in a bilateral treaty and not to have begun related delimitation and demarcation work. The officials expressed the hope that yesterday’s signing of the Ukraine-Belarus border agreement (see below) would spur Moscow to follow suit. On a related issue, the officials called for border delimitation in the Azov Sea in accordance with international legal practice, rather than creation of a joint jurisdiction as proposed by Russia. (Itar-Tass, May 13)

Romania’s recent acceptance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and borders, and the May 3 initialing of the Ukrainian-Romanian good neighborly relations treaty, further underline Russia’s seeming reluctance to come to grips with the reality of Ukrainian independence.

Presidents of Ukraine and Belarus Signal Intention to Cooperate.