Ukrainian Foreign Ministry establishes dept on unfriendly countries, including Russia, Belarus, DPRK, abolishes disarmament dept

MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry now has a new structure, including the department on unfriendly countries, among them Russia, Belarus and North Korea, Ukrainian media quoted Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga as saying on a social network.

"The first deputy minister will supervise this department," Sibiga said.

There is also a separate department on Central Asia. "This proves individual attention [to the region]," he said.

"Additionally, a separate department on the sanctions policy is established. This decision is long overdue. The issue of sanctions was previously divided between various departments," Sibiga said.

"We are also establishing a separate department on NATO at the Foreign Ministry. This proves that we prioritize our path to entering into the alliance. The integration with the European Union and NATO used to be combined in the department on the EU and NATO, the so-called DEN. Now we will have the department on the European Union and the department on NATO," he said.

"The time when the Foreign Ministry had a department with the word 'disarmament' in its name is gone forever. It was a long time ago, but such a department existed once. Ukraine will never disarm again. So, the current structure will include the department on international security and defense of Ukraine," Sibiga said.