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Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin believes that his office has enough authority to send a response to a Russian note on the trial of captive Ukrainian sailors without the consent of the President. Klimkin expressed this view in response to the outrage of President Volodymyr Zelensky over the MFA writing to the Russians, Ukrayinska Pravda reported.
Zelensky was upset to learn of this exchange of messages between Ukraine and Russia from the media, and not from the MFA or Klimkin.
“Certainly we, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had all powers to formulate such a note,” Klimkin said.
According to him, the note contained only the Ukrainian international legal position, with “no political moments” and posing no fundamentally new issues.
“As soon as the Ministry is eligible to conduct this case, both in relation to the international tribunal and other courts, we do not need additional consent in this context. And this is our position,” Klimkin said.
He insists that such notes fall within the scope of competence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Klimkin stressed that the note demanded that Russia comply with the ruling saying that the illegally detained Ukrainian sailors be released.
Answering the question whether the personal attitude of the minister to the president was the reason for not consulting with Zelensky, Klimkin said that he “does not comment on emotions.”
“I see that I have tactical and strategic differences on issues of counteraction to Russian aggression […] Therefore, in these conditions, I do not consider it possible to help more.”
Klimkin said he would be willing to discuss the situation with Zelensky if Zelensky were to request such a meeting.
