You're reading: Dobkin says laws passed by Rada on Jan. 16 not tough enough

Kharkiv - Head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Mykhailo Dobkin has said that the laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on Jan. 16 are not tough enough. 

“The laws passed by the Verkhovna Rada on Jan. 16 are timely, but not tough enough. The recent events have shown all of the imperfection of the national legislation,” he wrote on his page on Twitter on Tuesday.

“If we want to save the country, it’s necessary to eradicate at the legislative level the militant policy of extremists, nationalists and ‘grant eaters,'” he said.

On Jan. 16, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Ukraine’s state budget for 2014 and a number of bills without discussion. Most of the documents were passed without discussion, by a show of hands. The texts of certain laws became available only after MPs voted for them.

The pro-government Party of Regions faction said that the opposition prevented normal voting, in particular, members of opposition factions took away voting cards from their colleagues in parliament. The opposition said that the laws had been adopted in violation of the parliament’s rules of procedure and described their essence as “a coup.”

The laws passed by parliament include the so-called Oliynyk-Kolesnichenko law, which, in particular, determines the procedure for the registration and functioning of NGOs, defining some as “foreign agents,” a law criminalizing libel and extremist activities, as well as interfering in the information resources of the authorities, and a law tightening criminal responsibility for riots, the blocking and seizure of buildings, etc.

The adoption of these laws caused a negative reaction from Western politicians and officials, as well as international human rights organizations.