Ukraine constitution must include Donbas special status, Jagland belives

The Ukrainian Constitution to be amended this year must include the conditions for the special status of the occupied territories of Donbas in order to fully implement the Minsk agreements, Council of Europe Secretary General Thornbjorn Jagland said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that was published on July 9. The path to decentralization has been set and the parliament needs to approve the necessary amendments granting occupied Donbas special status, he said. The local elections called by the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics should be based on Ukrainian legislation, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Special status for occupied Donbas is merely the 11th clause of the Minsk Two accords, and it was understood by the participants that its implementation was dependent on the previous clauses. Yet even the most elementary clauses of the Minsk Two accords haven’t been fulfilled.

Jagland’s statement further compromises the position of the Ukrainian government, which is seeking to approve constitutional amendments in the coming months. His statements come two weeks after EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, representing the position of the European Commission, reportedly urged the approval of the Donbas special status as soon as possible.

Naturally, both the legislative and executive branches of Ukraine oppose granting special status to occupied Donbas – let alone fixating it in the Constitution – given that the Russian-backed terrorists have wholly ignored Minsk Two. The Ukrainian government’s position is logical, in our view. The willingness of the Europeans to cave into Russian demands has numerous factors, such as the Greek disaster and the desire to repair relations with Russia, at least economically. The European leadership clearly wants to appease Russia, indicating it hasn’t learned its lessons of history.

What’s most important for the Ukrainian government is to ensure that Putin doesn’t plant a ticking time bomb within the boundaries of the Ukrainian state. Although amputating occupied Donbas could have been an option, Ukrainian President Poroshenko has already ruled that out as part of his policy. His only option left may be to lead the approval of a special status but based on conditions that undermine any Russian plans to use Donbas as its time bomb in Ukraine.