Syria announced on Wednesday that it was cutting diplomatic ties with Kyiv in a move of “reciprocity” after Ukraine announced it would be taking the same measure at the end of June.
Ukraine decided to cut ties following the Syrian government’s official recognition of the pro-Russian separatist states, the so-called Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are two Ukrainian regions under occupation since 2014.
A source at the Syrian Foreign Ministry quoted by the official Sana news agency said that the “Syrian Arab Republic has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and in response to the government’s decision Ukrainian”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on June 29 to end diplomatic relations with Syria after the Damascus regime recognised the independence of the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine backed by Moscow since 2014.
“There will be no more relations between Ukraine and Syria,” Zelensky said at the time. Syria also announced at the end of June that it would recognise the independence of the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, becoming the first foreign country to do so.
Until now, only Moscow had recognised the independence of these two Ukrainian regions in February, a few days before the start of the Russian invasion.
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This is not the first time that Syria has expressed its support for territories whose independence Russia recognises.
In 2018, Damascus recognised the independence of the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. Syria and Russia have been allies for decades, but ties have been significantly strengthened by Russia's role in the military intervention in 2015 alongside Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
