The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has extended the effect of the law on special local governments in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts for a year, while making some controversial amendments to the legislation.
The parliament passed the bill “On the Creation of the Necessary Conditions for the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Regions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts” by 229 votes on Oct. 6.
It prolongs the effect of a law that was originally adopted on Sept. 16, 2014, which granted an amnesty to people who have fought against Ukraine’s government forces in the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and granted the region the right to self-government. While the law does not use the Minsk Accords of September 2014 as its legal basis, it does include provision that match the requirements of the agreement – including the controversial amnesty.
Previously, the law never really came in force: Its key condition was that it take effect after the withdrawal of all illegal armed formations, their military equipment, as well as fighters and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine. The prolonged law is more like a standing offer for peace.
In Ukraine, many condemn the law for the amnesty it offers to anti-government fighters.
The bill to prolong the law was introduced to the parliament on Oct. 4 by President Petro Poroshenko and caused a heated discussion. After Verkhovna Rada’s National Security and Defense Committee approved it on Oct. 5, Andriy Parubiy, the speaker, had planned to put it to the vote.
However, lawmakers from the opposition Samopomich party blocked the tribune, paralyzing the parliament and causing Parubiy to close the session.
The head of Samopomich faction in Ukrainian parliament Oleh Bereziuk during his speech from the tribune said that “the law was maleficent.”
“In 2015 the president and the coalition said they would fight (for Ukraine) but in three years they basically hand over Ukraine,” he said.
The MP Svitlana Zalishchuk says that “in the long-term perspective this law is terrible for Ukrainian statehood.”
She says that it will give power to those people that “we call militants today”.
“The law is not only unable to resolve the conflict, it will give people that fight against Ukraine an opportunity to influence the country’s future,” she told the Kyiv Post.
Zalishchuk says that the law will continue the “playing with the frozen Minsk format” and calls it the easiest step to take in the current situation.
“We have to claim a new position, admit this format doesn’t work and find a new way to resolve the conflict,” she said.
Viktoria Sumar, in an interview posted on the People’s Front party website, said that Poroshenko’s bill was important for Ukraine and its approach to the war.
“This law let’s Ukraine conduct peace negotiations and try to resolve the problem in the east peacefully,” she said.
Sumar said that the law had strict demands that must be met before the Verkhovna Rada will recognize any elections in the Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas.
“This law is a diplomatic step of Ukraine so that Russia can’t blame us for violating the Minsk agreements, and demand that Europe cancel the sanctions against it,” she said.
