Donbas Reintegration Bill Delay Shows Ukraine’s Wartime Political Divide

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine does not plan to consider the bill No. 7163 “On peculiarities of state policy on ensuring state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine does not plan to consider the bill No. 7163 “On peculiarities of state policy on ensuring state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts” on December 5-8, next December. This follows from the schedule of parliamentary sessions on December 5-8, published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.

It worth mention, that earlier in October, President Poroshenko introduced to the Verkhovna Rada a bill No. 7163 “On the peculiarities of the state policy of ensuring the state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”. Then, the Parliament voted for this draft law on the first reading, excluding, in particular, part one of Article 7, which referred to the Minsk Agreements, at the insistence of the opposition factions.

In accordance with the text of the bill, the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine has become one of the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. In the draft law, the President proposes to approve that the boundaries of temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are determined by the submission of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, it is planned to legislatively establish that temporary occupation of the territories in Donbas by Russia is illegitimate, does not create any territorial rights for Russia. Prior to the second reading, the bill also included the date of commencement of the occupation of the Ukrainian territory on February 20, 2014, and the entire text of the draft law added provisions on the occupation of the Crimea.

In this case, the document excludes not only the mention of the Minsk agreements, but also the norms that contain the referral to the Minsk agreements. The text of the draft law before the second reading also included the obligation of the occupying country to fully provide the occupied territories and a revision of the verification by a decree of the President on the fact of the liberation of Ukrainian territories from occupation.

EMPR

Source: expres.ua.