KIEV, Dec. 11 (CGTN) -- Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko on Monday signed a law terminating the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia.

Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that the decision not to extend the treaty “should be considered not just as an episode but as part of our strategy to finally break with our colonial past and pivot towards Europe.”

He sees “visa-free travels, the Ukraine-EU Association agreement and a tomos of autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church” as well as withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States, as parts of this strategy.

Ukraine's parliament, Verkhovna Rada, upheld the president's decision not to extend the Treaty on December 6.