International isolation: Russia excluded from Danube Commission

On December 14, the Danube Commission, at its 100-year jubilee session under the chairmanship of Ukraine, excluded the Russian Federation from membership in the organization. The decision was made "in view of its (Russian — ed.) missile and drone strikes on the Lower Danube."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba announced this on the X social network, Rubryka reports.

"After failing to be elected to the International Court of Justice, the IMO, UNESCO, and the OPCW executive boards in November, Russia suffered another diplomatic defeat at the Danube Commission, one of the world's oldest international organizations," Kuleba commented on the relevant decision.

Russia must withdraw from the organization by February 29, 2024, or Commission members will no longer recognize their obligations to Russia under the founding Belgrade Convention.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that this decision is a response to Russia's violation of the principles of free and safe navigation on the Danube. It is also based on the Commission's decision, adopted on March 17, 2022, to reject the Russian credentials, ban Russians from all meetings, and exclude them from the Commission's secretariat.

"I am grateful to the Danube Commission's members for taking this bold and principled move," the minister said.

As reported, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OSCE, 45 countries declared the need to punish the Russian Federation for war crimes in Ukraine.

The Danube Commission is an international intergovernmental organization established by the Convention on the Regime of Navigation on the Danube on August 18, 1948, in Belgrade.

The main objectives of the Danube Commission are to ensure and develop free navigation on the Danube for commercial ships under the flags of all states in accordance with the interests and sovereign rights of the states participating in the Belgrade Convention, as well as to strengthen and develop the economic and cultural ties of these states among themselves and with others countries.