UKRAINE-CRISIS/STATUS-VOTE Ukraine's parliament backs draft law giving east special status in rowdy session

Record ID: 140616

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/STATUS-VOTE Ukraine's parliament backs draft law giving east special status in rowdy session
  • Date: 31st August 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF GOVERNMENT MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SINGING UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5XNJENVAUN74ZWS3G6B5OXXN2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ukraine's parliament voted on Monday (August 31) for constitutional changes to give separatist-minded eastern regions a special status - but divisions in the pro-Western camp and violent street protests suggested the changes would face a rougher ride to become law.
    A national guardsman was killed and at least four police officers were badly hurt when a grenade was lobbed from a crowd of nationalists demonstrating outside parliament against the "decentralisation" draft law that President Petro Poroshenko and his government are pushing as part of a blueprint to end separatist rebellion in the east.
    Ukraine's national guard said about 50 of its members were hurt in the blast.
    At a boisterous session, with many deputies shouting "shame" and rhythmically beating parliamentary benches, a total of 265 deputies voted in favour of the first reading of the bill, 39 more than that required to pass.
    But many coalition allies, including former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, spoke against it and it is open to question whether Poroshenko will be able to whip up the necessary 300 votes for it to get through a second and final reading later this year.
    Approval of legislation for special status for parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are largely controlled by Russian-backed separatists, is a key element of a peace agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, in February.
    Though a ceasefire is under pressure from sporadic shelling and shooting which government troops and rebels blame on each other, Western governments see the deal as holding out the best possible prospects for peace and are urging Ukraine to abide by the letter of the Minsk agreement.
    "Today it is a historic decision which we can take. We need 226 votes to move forward toward European changes, changes to the constitution on decentralisation of power," said parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman.
    "The constitution which we are now considering in the first reading is a basis on which a real European, united and sovereign country will be built. I will never in my life allow myself to vote for some special status of anyone," he added.
    But opponents of the bill said it played into Russia's hands and would lead ultimately to Ukraine losing control over the Donbass - the name given to the industrialised east, swathes of which are controlled by separatists now.
    The dissenting voices in parliament and protests outside showed that Poroshenko might be facing an uphill task to "sell" vital parts of the Minsk agreement to his people and increasingly restive pro-government paramilitary groups before the turn of the year.
    That is when other elements of the agreement, including local elections, are supposed to be in place and Ukraine is supposed to have regained control of its border with Russia.
    More than 6,500 people have been killed in the east since pro-Russian separatists rebelled against the Kiev government after Russia annexed Crimea in response to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president by street protests and his replacement by a pro-Western leadership.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of France and Germany on Saturday (August 29) backed efforts to reinstate an effective ceasefire from Sept. 1 in line with a decision by Kiev and rebel representatives last Wednesday (August 26).
    Putin, in a three-way phone call with France's Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, blamed Kiev's forces for shelling populated areas while Germany criticised the rebels for seeking to hold elections outside the framework of Ukrainian law.
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