The reaction of Ukraine to territorial claims by Romania must be tougher, the People's Party of Ukraine has said.
"It is right for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to immediately state that the Ukrainian side has no intentions to change the border line with Romania. However, the reaction of Ukraine to unreasonable territorial claims must be tougher, as there are two principles [in this issue] for our country," reads a statement of the political force.
First of all, according to the report, the territorial integrity of Ukraine must be unchanged in any situation and on any conditions.
"To give away a small uninhabited island of Maikan means to demonstrate weakness and give reasons for other claims," the People’s Party said.
Second of all, according to the political force, Romania claims to have economic reasons.
"Since Ukraine has built a deep water channel from the Danube to the Black Sea to the Shvydke mouth, more and more ships give preference to it, rather then to the Romanian channels," according to the report.
The People’s Party said that the country’s leadership must once and for all make it clear to all neighboring countries that Ukraine "originated and was approved within the current borders."
As reported, the issue of Romania’s claims to Ukraine regarding the uninhabited island of Maikan on the Danube River has been recently discussed in the media.
Under international law, when the border between two countries lies on a river, it passes through the midpoint of the channel if the sides do not reach other agreement. The midpoint of the channel, which previously passed through a large Romanian island of Babin and the Ukrainian island of Maikan, has changed. On this basis, the Romanian side stressed the need to move the border with Ukraine, after which Maikan would have become a Romanian island.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the Ukrainian side would not change the border line on any section of the state border, including near the island of Maikan. The Ukrainian side was guided solely by the current bilateral documents, in particular, the relevant articles of a Ukrainian-Romanian treaty of June 17, 2003 on the regime of the Ukrainian-Romanian border, the Foreign Ministry said.
