Ukraine tries again to recognize separatist self-governance

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided on March 12 to recognize the borders of certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions where a special regime of local self-governance is being implemented based on the separation line determined on Sept. 19 in the Minsk cease-fire accords.

Parliament will approve a similar resolution and amend the self-governance law, said Mykhaylo Koval, the Council’s first deputy secretary. The self-governance regime won’t be implemented on territories taken over by Russian-backed separatists after Sept. 19, as well as in population centers along the separation line that are controlled by the Ukrainian government, he said.

The Minsk Two Feb. 12 cease-fire accords stipulate that within 30 days of its signing, Ukraine’s parliament is supposed to pass a resolution determining the territories where the special self-governance regime is to be established based on the separation line indicated in the Sept. 19 Minsk memorandum.

Zenon Zawada: The resolutions will be based on the text of the Minsk cease-fire protocols, which is clear. Yet it’s how the text is interpreted that will differ between the Russian and Ukrainian sides. The Russian-backed separatists have already claimed that much of the territory they took after Sept. 19 was truly under their control before that date, even the railroad hub of Debaltseve that they controlled only as of February.

Many of the conditions of the special regime of local self-governance also remain unclear. Such a regime was in place after the September agreement yet was canceled by the Ukrainian president in November after the Russian side failed to uphold its end. Legislation has yet to be approved outlining the conditions of the new self-governance regime.

We see this decision as the Ukrainian government’s attempt to demonstrate to the world that it’s doing all it can to uphold the Minsk cease-fire. Yet we don’t expect it will play a role in making progress towards a lasting peace. The vague nature of the Minsk Two cease-fire accords leaves too many questions unresolved.