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Ukraine’s parliament adopts memorandum for peace

Ukraine’s parliament adopts memorandum for peace

21 May 2014

The Rada voted on May 20 to adopt a “Memorandum of Understanding and Peace” which calls for the de-escalation of eastern Ukraine. 252 MPs (out of 450 total) voted in favor of this document, including followers of the ex-president from the Party of Regions and supporters of acting president. Members of the Communist faction and the radical right Svoboda faction did not vote, according to Ukrayinska Pravda. According to the document, the Rada is promising to run a constitutional reform aimed at the decentralization of power, including decentralization of budget revenues. Other promised reforms are a changed balance between branches of the central power, reform of the police and prosecution systems, and tougher anti-corruption control. The Rada also promised to adopt a law on local referenda and guarantee a special status to the Russian language. Also the parliament called for the armed protesters to surrender their weapons and promised amnesty for those who did not torture or kill. The document also calls on all Ukrainian citizens to take part in the May 25 presidential elections. 

 

The draft memorandum was initially prepared by MP Vadym Novinskiy, a member of Party of Regions faction, a co-owner of Metinvest, and an ex-Russian citizen. Inna Bogoslovska, an ex-member of the Party of Regions faction reported to the 5th Channel TV the same day that the faction members were trying to substitute the faction head Alexander Yefremov, for Novinskiy. 

 

The version of the memorandum adopted by Rada, compared to the initial one, lacks a statement that Ukraine is not going to join any military block; has more vague statements on decentralization and the status of the Russian language; and has a new statement on the May 25 elections, according to Ukrayinska Pravda. 

 

Alexander Paraschiy: As the memorandum was initiated and supported by a member of the faction of Party of Regions, which has majority in local councils in eastern regions, there is a good chance that local authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk will actually listen to the requests listed in the document. The memorandum is another factor that may stabilize the situation in eastern regions, after calls for peace of Donetsk-based oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and the increasing demotivation of extremists. 

 

Despite this, we believe that it will be very hard for Ukraine to smoothly hold the May 25 presidential elections in many locations of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In particular, a conflict inside the Party of Regions between peace-maker Novinskiy and Yefremov, who is considered the most influential person in the Lunansk region, adds some pessimism about de-escalation prospects before the elections.

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