Damascus has severed diplomatic ties with kyiv, the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
This comes in response to a similar move by Ukraine last month that followed Syria’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
“The Syrian Arab Republic has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and in response to the Ukrainian government’s decision to do so,” the ministry announced on its website. kyiv said it would cut diplomatic ties with Syria at the end of June in response to Damascus’ decision to follow Russia’s example and recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as independent states.
“There will be no relations between Ukraine and Syria” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at the time, threatening Damascus with sanctions.
kyiv closed its embassy in Syria in 2016, accusing the country’s president, Bashar Assad, of crimes against his own people, and in 2018 ordered Syrian diplomats to leave Ukraine.
Damascus is a close ally of Moscow. In 2015, Russia sent an expeditionary force to Syria at the request of Damascus, to help it defeat IS and other terrorist groups.