Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill on creating special conditions for peaceful settlement in the breakaway districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the presidential press service reports on Oct. 7.
The newly signed law stipulates that Ukraine stays committed to the non-violent restoration of its sovereignty over the seized eastern territories under the United Nations statute and international law, the message says.
Poroshenko’s move follows a vote of Ukraine’s parliament: 229 lawmakers supported the corresponding bill on Oct. 6. and passed it.
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 peace accords as its legal basis, it does include provisions that match the requirements of the agreement – including the controversial amnesty.
The law never really came in force: Its key condition was that it takes 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.
“The possibility of fulfilling the law is strictly determined by a number of demands to Russia, which is the aggressor and the occupant, and also to its puppet regimes. Preeminently, by the demand to withdraw Russian troops, illegal armed groups, military vehicles, from Ukraine’s territory, and by a principle of accordance of political processes with the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) standards,” the presidential administration quoted Poroshenko as saying on Oct. 7.
In Ukraine, many condemn the law for the amnesty it offers to anti-government fighters.
The bill to extend the law was introduced to the parliament on Oct. 4 by President Petro Poroshenko and caused a heated discussion.
The head of Samopomich faction in Ukrainian parliament, Oleh Bereziuk, criticized the law, while reformist lawmaker from Poroshenko’s Bloc faction Svitlana Zalishchuk said 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,” Zalishchuk told the Kyiv Post.
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 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.
