Serpent Island Aftermath Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dismissed

The Ukrainian Parliament yesterday dismissed Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko on the count that Ukrainian diplomatic efforts during the lawsuit filed by Romania for the delimitation of the continental shelf of the Black Sea and exclusive economic areas in the region had been "unprofessional."

The unprofessional actions of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and minister personally with regards to the examination by the U.N. International Court in the Hague of the case on the status of Serpent Island, as well as the minister"s actions, which led with a dangerous deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Russia are the reasons why Volodymyr Ohryzko was dismissed, according to the Ukraine Communist Party and the pro-Russian Party of Regions who filed the motion against him. The second part of the accusations referred to Ohryzko"s threat to declare Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin persona non grata for having made "unfriendly" remarks about Ukraine.

Volodymyr Ohryzko was dismissed by 250 out of 450 votes, the minimum requirement being 226 votes. The voting took place after Ohryzko had been heard on the matter of the International Court of Justice ruling on the delimitation of the continental shelf of the Black Sea, which is not influenced by Serpent Island, as Ukraine would have wanted.

Volodymyr Ohryzko told Parliament that Ukraine had not lost "an inch" of its territory in the lawsuit, while the ICJ verdict was in between what Ukraine had wanted and what Romania had wanted. The ex-Foreign Minister concluded that the Court had chosen a classic way of delimiting a continental shelf.