Ukrainian Parliament publishes draft bill on integration of Donbas
The main highlights of the new Presidential bill on the Donbas were published on the web site of the Verkhovna Rada.
The purpose of the Bill is stated to be “the liberation of the territory of the Donbas”.
The word "aggression" and its derivatives occur 42 times in the text of the Bill. At the same time, the Bill does not call Russia an "aggressor country." Nevertheless, the authors directly declare that it is the Russian Federation that has been carrying out armed aggression on the territory of Ukraine.
The main part of the Bill claims that Russia has occupied part of the territory of Ukraine. These territorial boundaries are determined by the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. According to the media, the management functions of these territories have already been reassigned to the Ukrainian military.
The separatist Luhansk and Donetsk "people's republics" are officially referred to in the President’s bill as the "occupation administration of the Russian Federation".
The Bill also states that Ukraine guarantees all property rights to its citizens residing in “the temporarily occupied territory”. It confirms the rights of people in the Donbas to everything they owned before the war. The Bill also refuses to recognize any laws and regulations adopted by the separatists. Should these territories be returned to Ukraine, those who bought an apartment or established a business according to the norms of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics stand to lose their property.
The Bill also deals with the Minsk agreements. Article 7 confirms Ukraine’s participation in the Minsk Agreements. It also includes a declaration of the "priority of the implementation of the security issues of the Minsk Protocol." According to the media, in fact, this is the first time that Ukrainian legislation specifically mentions the Minsk agreements.
An important issue of the Bill on the Donbas is the subordination of the law enforcement. According to the Bill, the army will be in command of all the law enforcement activities in the conflict zone.
This will require the creation of the Joint Operational Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
All other departments will be subordinated to it, including the National Guard and the National Police who are now part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. In this manner, the President as the Commander-in-Chief receives full leadership over security officers in the conflict zone.
"The Joint Operational Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducts planning, organizing and monitoring of the fulfillment of tasks on ensuring national security and defense, deterring and repelling Russian armed aggression in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, directing, coordinating and monitoring military-civil or military administrations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with regards to national security and defense issues," the Bill says.
According to the Bill, existing policies on trips to and from the Donbas remain unchanged. People and goods will be allowed only through the entry and exit checkpoints. This decision was made by the Joint Committee Head in agreement with the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) and the Ukrainian Ministry on the Affairs of the Occupied Territories. This ensures that trade in the conflict zone zone remains under the control of three departments with the military in a predominant role.
The paragraph on the Martial Law is supplemented with an item whereby the power of all local governments bodies, including city, district, village and regional councils, is automatically terminated on the territory where the Martial Law is introduced.
According to the Bill, President Poroshenko wants to extend the special status of Donbas for possible introduction of peacekeeping mission. The main part of the bill includes a paragraph "On creating necessary conditions for peaceful settlement of the situation in certain areas of the Donetsk and the Luhansk regions," which the president brought to the parliament.
According to the Bill, the extension of the special status is vital for "creating the necessary conditions for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in certain parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada registered a bill on Wednesday, October 4 "On the peculiarities of state policy for ensuring Ukraine's state sovereignty over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions" as Bill number 7163.