During his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin told her that the draft law tabled by the Ukrainian government at the beginning of August on the country's policy during the transition period after the "de-occupation" of Crimea and Donbass so violates the Minsk agreements that its adoption will be tantamount to a de facto exit of Ukraine from these agreements.
This is not the first time that Ukraine has passed laws or resolutions that contradict the Minsk agreements: the law on the Ukrainian language, the law on education, and most recently the Rada's resolution describing the war in Donbass as a Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. Not to mention the bills still awaiting a vote, such as the one to allow Russian citizens to be interned in camps.
But with this law on the transition period after the "de-occupation" of Crimea and Donbass, records are being broken of Ukraine's violation of the Minsk agreements, as Vladimir Putin pointed out.
"Today I informed the Federal Chancellor that another bill has been tabled by the Ukrainian government, and if this law is adopted, it will mean - please read it, it is not a secret document, it is published on the website [of the Rada - translator's note], certainly - it will mean de facto unilateral withdrawal of Ukraine from the Minsk process," Vladimir Putin said at a press conference after his meeting with Angela Merkel.
"There is not only one thing contrary to the Minsk agreements, but everything in there is contrary to the Minsk agreements. This will mean the de facto withdrawal of Ukraine from these agreements," the Russian president added.
And indeed, when one dives into the text of the bill No. 4327 - on "the bases of state policy during the transition period" - published on the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) website, one can better understand the Russian President's words.
Already in Article 3, the bill repeats the rhetoric of the Rada resolution of March 2021, and refers to Russia as carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine in the Donbass. However, as I stated at the time of the vote on the said resolution, this point totally violates the Minsk agreements, which clearly state that the sides that have to negotiate the peaceful resolution of the Donbass conflict (i.e. the conflict sides), are Ukraine, the DPR and the LPR (Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, referred to in the agreements as "certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions").
As I have said and written many times before, if the Donbass conflict were a Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict, the Minsk agreements would stipulate that Ukraine must negotiate with Russia. This is logical.
But this bill does not stop there in terms of violating the Minsk agreements. Article 9 concerning the fact that anyone who has taken a life or seriously injured someone during the conflict (i.e. almost all soldiers of the DPR and LPR People' s Militia) will be prosecuted and cannot be amnestied, violates the general amnesty provided for in the Minsk agreements (point No. 5)
Article 10, on the other hand, prohibiting former members of the government and senior officials of the DPR and LPR from standing for election or keeping their positions in the administration, violates the note at the end of the Minsk agreements regarding the measures to be included in the law on local self-government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Indeed, I recall that this note clearly states that persons connected with the events in Donbass should not be punished, persecuted or discriminated against. Article 10 of the Ukrainian bill is precisely a punishment, persecution and discrimination against these people.
But this is not the only problematic point. The note also specifies that local authorities in the DPR and LPR will participate in the appointment of prosecutor's offices and courts heads. This draft law also violates this point, as it stipulates that Kiev will draw from a pool of officials from other regions of Ukraine to fill the positions left vacant by the forced removal of previous officials.
This alone is enough to declare that this bill signals Ukraine's de facto withdrawal from the Minsk agreements. But it does not stop there!
Article 16 on local elections clearly states that they can only take place once the "de-occupation" is completed. The Minsk agreements clearly state that Ukraine will only be able to regain control of the border with Russia in the Donbass once elections have been held. This bill therefore violates point 9 of the Minsk agreements.
Article 19, which imposes a disarmament of the "de-occupied" regions, violates the note on measures to be included in the law on local self-government, which stipulates that People' s Militia units will be created to ensure security. These People' s Militia units will necessarily be armed to carry out their task.
Finally, Article 37, on the establishment of Ukrainian as the only official language, violates the right to linguistic self-determination, which is provided for in the note on measures to be included in the Law on Local Self-Government.
I remind you in passing that, apart from the delusions of rewriting the history of the Donbass war (there is no more Russian occupier in the region than there is butter in a branch) by Ukraine, the reality is that the conflict broke out precisely because of Kiev's withdrawal of the regional language status of Russian. If the Donbass population, and that of Crimea, rose up against the post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities, it was because of their desire to forcibly Ukrainise regions that are deeply Russian-speaking and populated by a majority of ethnic Russians.
Unsurprisingly, this text violates the Minsk agreements to such an extent that it does not even deign to mention them, although I would remind you that the latter are the only possibility for Ukraine to peacefully recover the Donbass. It is only a short step from there to conclude that this law is designed for a recovery by force, which I leave to you to decide whether or not to take.
With such a bill on the table in Ukraine, Angela Merkel will need more than just declarations about the need to "revive the Normandy Format", or finding a common agenda to advance the negotiations on the Minsk agreements when she meets Zelensky, to bring Kiev back into line. For Vladimir Putin is right to say that if Ukraine passes this law, then it will mean that it de facto leaves the Minsk agreements.