HISTORICAL AND LEGAL PERIODIZATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSULAR ACTIVITIES IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The study of the historical and legal periodization of the development of consular activities in Ukraineprovides an opportunity to better understand the current state of its development and determine its prospects.The history of the formation and development of consular activities in Ukraine dates back to the times of KievanRus. The assertion of statehood in the ХІ century made it possible to form a system of external relations of Kievan Rus.The next period of development of consular activity in Ukraine dates back to the existence of the UkrainianCossack state during the second half of the XVII – first half of the XVIII century, with the establishment of diplomaticinstitutions which began to emerge national consular service. Its representatives, although not called consulsat the time, performed functions that belonged to consular powers.In the next period of development of consular activity from the last quarter of the XVIII century until 1917, asa result of the cessation of the Hetmanate and the Zaporizhzhya Sich in the second half of the XVIII century, therewere no conditions for the development of an independent diplomatic and consular service of Ukraine. At the sametime, many Ukrainians in the late XVIII – early XX centuries replenished the consular service, first the Boardof Foreign Affairs, and later the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire.The next period of development of consular activity in Ukraine (1917–1923) is connected with the activityof the Ukrainian People’s Republic. The period of development of consular activity in the period of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in a certainperiod of time coincides with the period of formation of consular activity of Soviet Ukraine, which began in1918 and ended in 1991 with the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence.The current period in the development of consular activities in Ukraine is the period of formation and developmentof the consular service in independent Ukraine, which began in 1991.The author notes that the legal basis of the consular service of Ukraine at the present stage is the Lawof Ukraine “On Diplomatic Service” of June 7, 2018 № 2449-VIII, Consular Statute of Ukraine, approved bythe Decree of the President of Ukraine of April 2, 1994 № 127/94, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations ofApril 24, 1963.