Poroshenko wavered. Federalization of Ukraine has begun
Kyiv, September 23 (PolitNavigator, Sergey Stepanov) – The law on the special status of Donetsk and Lugansk, pushed through under the pressure of circumstances by Petro Poroshenko, could become the beginning of the federalization of Ukraine, albeit under a different name.
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Please note how the rhetoric of Poroshenko, his advisers and fellow MPs has changed in recent days. From TV screens they convince the electorate of the correctness of the Verkhovna Rada’s decision on Donbass. They say that this will avoid thousands of victims, and they promise to keep the east within the borders of Ukraine.
The press loyal to Poroshenko is also involved in the clarification process. The magazine “New Time,” for example, which until recently called the rebels exclusively “terrorists” and “separatists,” now finds advantages in the truce and the special status of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“The part of Donbass controlled by militants provides the country with a significant part of foreign exchange earnings, anthracite for the production of electricity throughout the country and components for enterprises outside the ATO zone. Therefore, a sustainable truce could be good news for the country,” the publication writes.
Poroshenko and his team, of course, found themselves in a stupid position. It was Pyotr Alekseevich who shouted from the Maidan stage back in the winter that federalization was categorically unacceptable. Poroshenko persisted in rejecting the demands of the Donbass rebels in the summer, when Kyiv was hoping for military success.
But the situation changed by the beginning of September, the Ukrainian army faced the threat of defeat, and Poroshenko had to make concessions. In fact, he began the process of federalization, because Donetsk and Lugansk received autonomy rights. True, the president is embarrassed to talk about this - voters won’t understand, because Poroshenko drove himself into a corner with the belligerent rhetoric of previous months.
According to the decision of the Verkhovna Rada, local councils of Donetsk and Lugansk will coordinate the candidacies of security forces and judges, will receive more independence in relations with Russia and the opportunity to stop the de-Russification of the population.
Similar rights were once promised to Crimea, however, as we remember, then Kyiv chose to strangle the autonomy, which gave rise to the explosion in February 2014.
Therefore, Donbass should remember the history of the Crimeans and understand that the center will always try to curtail the freemen. However, supporters of Novorossiya are not satisfied with the law from Poroshenko at all, and in Kyiv they insist that autonomy will only last for 3 years. But that's not what we're talking about now.
It is more important today that other regions of Ukraine demand similar rights. So far, only a few deputies of Odessa have decided to do this (nostalgia for Porto Franco is strong there), united in the “May 2” committee (investigating the tragedy in the House of Trade Unions).
“We believe that the norms of this law should be extended not only to the territories occupied by the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, but also to other territories of the southeast. Odessa residents fighting in the ranks of the militia also contributed to the defeat of the Ukrainian troops, which forced the Kyiv authorities to sit down at the negotiating table. The extension of the law on “special status” to the territory of the Odessa region will meet the requirements of the majority of Odessa residents and residents of the region... The implementation of these measures will help reverse the situation when the Odessa region is ruled by Gauleiters sent by the Kyiv authorities, and neo-Nazi gangs are rampaging on the streets. “Special status is a compromise that gives us all a chance to preserve civil peace and opens up opportunities for an honest investigation into the tragedy of May 2,” the document says.
How did they react to this in Kyiv? “I think that these Odessa deputies should be immediately imprisoned for separatism,” snapped political scientist Alexander Paliy, who is one of the “hawks.”
But another “hawk” - Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexander Briginets - had to get out. He might like to traditionally call for a fight against the “separatists.” But now Briginets is part of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, and therefore there seems to be no reason to scold people who welcome the presidential law.
“If they simply demand additional powers in the field of self-government and do not violate any laws, then the current legislation does not allow them to be held accountable,” the deputy said.
As you can see, the moment has truly come to demand additional rights for Odessa, Kharkov, and other regions. It is possible that the western regions of Ukraine will also want such autonomy. Here, for example, is how lawyer Ivan Makar, a native of the Lviv region, who has been seeking recognition of the UPA in the courts for many years, commented on the statement of the Odessa deputies.
“At least in this way, maybe it will be possible to decentralize the Ukrainian. In such an extremely centralized state as today’s Ukraine, it is almost impossible to build a legal, non-corrupt state,” the lawyer argues.
So the ongoing federalization of Ukraine (albeit under a different name) may have unexpected supporters.
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