Donbas to be granted a special status and preferences at the expense of the national budget

Photo: Reuters

Yesterday, President Petro Poroshenko submitted to the Verkhovna Rada two bills. They envisage the introduction of a special status for a number of counties in the Donbas region for three years and amnesty for participants of illegally armed formations. According to information that Capital possesses, the documents have been agreed with Russia and the European Union, but bear the risk of freezing the conflict.

All the power to the Soviets

One of the aforementioned presidential bills proposes amnesty for participants of armed formations, members of bodies of power of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic and the people that obstructed the anti-terrorist organization (ATO). In order to be amnestied the separatists must free hostages within one month, disarm and stop blocking the bodies of power. Should they fulfill these demands, they will be exempt from administrative penalties. The law will not apply to those suspected or accused of grievous crimes and those involved in downing of the Malaysian aircraft or obstructing investigation of the tragedy. It is planned that after this takes effect prosecutors upon the instruction of the Prosecutor General will appeal to courts for exemption from criminal liability. Then the courts will have to pass down a ruling within three days.

In the second bill, the president proposes MPs to temporarily grant a number of counties within the ATO zone in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts for a term of three years a special order of self-government. The document also guarantees the use of Russian and any other language in public and private life. The president proposes to hold local elections in the Donbas region on November 9 and grant elected bodies of self-government the right to participate in the appointment of prosecutors and judges. In addition to that the local councils will be granted the right to create and coordinate the actions of brigades of people’s militia.

Kyiv also guarantees support of the socio-economic development of Donbas. “The support involves introduction of a regime that differs from the general economic regime for economic and investment activity aimed at restoring industrial facilities, transport and social infrastructure, the housing fund, re-orientation of industrial potential, creation of new jobs, attraction of investments and loans for restoration and development of facilities in certain areas,” according to the bill.

It is planned that funds for these purposes will be allocated from protected articles of the general fund of the national budget and their volume cannot be changed.

The document also envisages “enhancing good neighborly relations between territorial communities, local self-government bodies of certain areas with administrative-territorial units of Russia on the basis of agreements on border cooperation, which are drafted by territorial communities, local self-government and local bodies of executive power of Ukraine within the confines envisaged by the law”.

Linking with ratification

The president of Ukraine announced the appearance of the bill on the special status of the Donbas region in the VR, which is a part of the Minsk agreements, last week. “There is no threat to territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine in this document,” said Poroshenko. “The transfer of power will be no larger than in Polish municipalities,” the president said, specifying that the issues of international policy and security will remain within the competence of central authorities.

A source of Capital in the Presidential Administration said a group led by First Deputy Chief-of-Staff Hennadiy Zubko drafted the bill. The drafting was preceded by negotiations with ‘Moscow and representatives of the DPR’. “There is an intention to link the voting of the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday on the bills regarding the special status of the Donbas region and amnesty with ratification of the Association Agreement with the EU, particularly since the latest agreements with the EU and Russia on postponement of introduction of the Free Trade Zone with the EU until January 1, 2015 and the refusal to introduce changes to the AA demanded by Russia are directly linked to these bills,” said the source. He said that the Presidential Administration is trying to convince people that the concession for Donbas is not an exception, rather a targeted regional policy. “Other regions will be granted the same powers after amendments to the Constitution are introduced,” says the source.

First Vice Premier of the self-proclaimed DPR Andriy Purgin, however, already stated that the bill proposed by Poroshenko “will be a point of contact for future talks, but nothing more”. Nonetheless, international relations expert Serhiy Tereshko predicts that Moscow will support the proposals of the Ukrainian president. “The documents, however, imply a hidden “transformation of the rebellious Donbas into another Transdnistria”. They do not resolve the problem. They only freeze it,” he told Capital.

The chances that the president’s initiatives will be supported by the parliament are quite high. “We will vote, because, taking into account the threat of the Russian army, this problem cannot be settled by force,” MP Pavlo Rozenko (UDAR) told Capital. MP Anatoliy Hirshfeld (Independent) predicted that the bills may be supported by the Verkhovna Rada.