Government approves bill on state policy of transition period

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the draft law on the principles of state policy of the transition period, the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories reports.

“The draft law is based on UN principles in terms of transitional justice, meets OSCE Copenhagen standards and criteria, Copenhagen criteria and, first of all, was developed solely on the state interests of our country,” the ministry’s press service said.

It is noted that the document basically proposes to consolidate at the legislative level the definition of the Russian Federation as an aggressor and occupying state.

The key objectives of the document are: to define the basic principles (“red lines”) of de-occupation and reintegration; to unify approaches both in relation to the temporarily occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and to Crimea, as to territories that are temporarily occupied and where occupation forces and services of the Russian Federation operate; to streamline and modernize the existing specialized terminology, as well as introduce a concept that reveals its novelties – the terms transitional justice, convalidation, temporary occupation, occupation forces and occupation services of the Russian Federation, political, diplomatic and sanctions measures, contact line, lasting peace, reintegration of the temporarily occupied (de-occupied) territories and their inhabitants.

Also, the purpose of the document is to separate regulation into conflict and post-conflict periods, which will make it possible to determine the algorithm of state actions during the reintegration of the temporarily occupied (de-occupied) territories and their inhabitants; to strengthen social ties with the temporarily occupied territories; to introduce elements of transitional justice, in particular liability for offenses related to temporary occupation, restrictions on the election and appointment of Ukrainian citizens who were involved in activities of occupation forces and occupation administrations of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the draft law is intended to introduce an institution of convalidation of deals that were made in the temporarily occupied territories; to create prerequisites for the formation of a personnel reserve for work in the de-occupied territories; to establish restrictions on the circulation of the currency of the aggressor state during the transition period; to determine the further development for the package of bills on the transitional period, which is currently being drafted by the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories.

“An important task of the bill is to introduce strategic planning tools and consolidate the basic values for state policy of the transition period: the priority of a person (their dignity, rights, and freedoms) combined with the inviolability of state sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Reintegration Ministry says.