Donbas separate order won’t threaten Ukraine integrity, president says

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a July 19 television interview that the separate order of self-governance for the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions won’t be used to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Even if legislation is introduced that threatens Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, “I, as the president, and as any other president, will be obliged to use my veto right” and not allow it to pose a threat or to abuse the separate order, Poroshenko said. “Don’t believe the myths – no threats can emerge since an entire series of preventative measures exist.” On July 17, Ukraine’s parliament approved a constitutional amendment establishing a separate order in Donbas and forwarded it to the Constitutional Court for review.

In a July 19 appeal to the public regarding the constitutional amendments, Poroshenko said he will make all efforts to ensure the amendments are approved by parliament this fall. He stressed that the separate order will only take effect if the other conditions of the Minsk Two accords are adhered to by the Russian government. “These conditions include disarming the fighters, removing Russian armies, renewing control along the entire Ukrainian-Russian border, and holding free and democratic local elections. Isn’t that what we want?,” the president said in his appeal.

Zenon Zawada: Poroshenko can confidently argue that the separate order won’t threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity because he has the firm backing of the U.S. and the EU, which are practically the guarantors of the separate order not backfiring. Without the West, the separate order could certainly be manipulated to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is why there was such fierce protest from Ukraine’s right-wing forces.

The United States’ endorsement of the separate order confirms our view that their strategy in confronting Russian President Putin is based on employing and tightening economic sanctions. As economic pressure mounts, the U.S. is hoping that someone within the Russian regime, or a group of elites, will lead a campaign to uproot or dismantle Putin’s regime. The U.S. leadership sees no benefit in applying military force to resolve this conflict. We believe this is an appropriate strategy that is most effective.

Russia’s failure to uphold the Donbas separate order, which we expect unfortunately, and its likely failure to abide by the Minsk accords conditions, should mobilize global support towards intensified sanctions, with the aim of forcing a rupture within the Russian elite. It’s already apparent that some within the elite are annoyed by Putin’s unconventional, poorly conceived approach to the military conflict, which doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. That means huge financial losses for the Russian elite, which it will find unacceptable, sooner or later.