Ukraine parliament approves changes to Donbas self-governance law

Ukraine’s parliament approved on March 17 amendments to the law on local self-governance on certain territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. As previously, the amendments require that the territories’ self-governance be recognized only after local elections are held. However, they create new conditions for these elections, such as allowing refugees to vote, requiring Ukrainian print and television media in the region, and removing all illegal military formations and Russian forces. “Only at that moment – when the Ukrainian flag, Ukrainian patrols and Ukrainian law is renewed on these territories – can local elections be held there,” said Yuriy Lutsenko, the head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.

Ukraine’s Putin-aligned forces, led by the Opposition Bloc in parliament, said these new conditions undermine any prospects for the Minsk cease-fire. This morning, the self-appointed leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics released a statement demanding the amendments be repealed. They pointed out the Minsk accords require that election conditions be determined in the Trilateral Contact Group, in which they’re represented, rather than by the Ukrainian president and parliament.

Zenon Zawada: We view the parliament’s vote as a maneuver to enhance the negotiating position of the Ukrainian government when its representatives return to the next round of negotiations, whether in the context of the Trilateral Contact Group or the so-called Normandy format involving the heads of state. It is also intended to be the week’s “Minsk newsmaker item” to demonstrate to the West its efforts at peace. It’s very important for Poroshenko to show that he’s trying.

As we’ve stated, the Minsk cease-fire accords – both the September and February versions – created more questions than answers. They are successful laying the grounds for temporary de-escalations of violence on the territory of Donbas, but resolve little in the grand scheme of the conflict.

It’s clear that these new requirements won’t be accepted by the Russian-backed separatists, yet the Ukrainian government also won’t allow elections to be held without the conditions stipulated in the new legislation, many of which are reasonable. So it’s doubtful that the two sides will agree to hold elections, which means that the Ukrainian government isn’t likely to recognize the self-governance of the occupied territories anytime this year, as Lutsenko himself has acknowledged.