The international intergovernmental organization Danube Commission on Thursday decided that the membership of the Russian Federation is incompatible; the aggressor country must withdraw from the commission by February 29, 2024, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"The Danube Commission decided yesterday, at its 100th anniversary session under the Ukrainian presidency, that Russian membership is incompatible given its missile and drone strikes on the Lower Danube," Kuleba wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

"Russia must leave by February 29th, 2024, or the Commission's members will no longer recognize their commitments to Russia under the founding Belgrade Convention," the minister stressed.

The Foreign Minister is convinced that this decision is an appropriate response to the violation of the principles of free and safe navigation on the Danube. It also builds on the Commission's earlier decision, made on March 17, 2022, to reject Russian credentials, bar Russians from all meetings, and dismiss Russians from the Secretariat.

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