Photo by UNIAN
Experts are confident that such ideas will further alienate the uncontrolled territories.
The Verkhovna Rada has decided to legislate who is considered a "hand of the Kremlin" and to criminalize collaborationist activities. This includes, for example, "public denial of armed aggression against Ukraine, cooperation with the Russian Federation and the occupied territories, information activities in cooperation with the Russian Federation, propaganda in educational institutions," and much more. According to lawyers, these provisions effectively make it possible to prosecute virtually all citizens living in the uncontrolled territories. News.
Who are they going to jail?
A group of MPs from the presidential party "Servant of the People" introduced two bills to the Verkhovna Rada punishing collaborationism. The first bill establishes liability for individuals who "collaborated with Russia, the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics,' and the Crimean authorities." Such activity also includes: "public denial of armed aggression against Ukraine," "calls for support for the decisions or actions of the aggressor state, armed formations, and/or the occupation administration of the aggressor state," and "failure to recognize the extension of Ukraine's state sovereignty over the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine."
The document specifically specifies that "public" dissemination of information includes dissemination online (for example, on social media) or through mass media. Such acts are subject to punishment by deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for a period of 10 to 15 years.
The same liability, but with the possibility of confiscation of property, is provided for “the voluntary occupation by a citizen of Ukraine of a position not related to the performance of organizational and managerial or administrative and economic functions in illegal government bodies in the temporarily occupied territory.”
However, for "carrying out propaganda in educational institutions," as well as actions "aimed at introducing the educational standards of an aggressor state," it is proposed to punish them with correctional labor for up to two years, arrest for up to six months, or imprisonment for up to three years, with disqualification from holding certain positions for up to 15 years. Incidentally, this statute could easily apply to all teachers in Crimea and the so-called "LPR/DPR."
A prison sentence of 3-5 years is envisaged for "transferring material resources to paramilitary groups in the occupied territories," while 5-10 years' imprisonment is proposed for "participating in organizing and conducting illegal elections and referendums in the temporarily occupied territory." Finally, 12-15 years' imprisonment is proposed for "voluntarily taking positions in illegal judicial and law enforcement agencies of the 'LPR/DPR' and armed groups of the aggressor country."
Another bill introduced, as stated in the explanatory note, “establishes additional legal grounds for the liquidation of political parties, public, charitable or religious organizations, trade unions and public formations” that collaborated with Russia or the authorities of territories not controlled by Kyiv.”
The issue could include banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and stripping it of its main holy sites. Furthermore, the possibility of banning the party is also possible if its leaders have been convicted of crimes against national security under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Incidentally, Anatoliy Shariy has already been charged under this article. The State Bureau of Investigation is also continuing proceedings against one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform - For Life party. Viktor Medvedchuk Medvedchuk faces charges of treason and encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine. Medvedchuk risks facing another prosecution following the release of recordings of conversations from 2014, in which voices resembling those of Medvedchuk and former presidential aide Vladimir Surkov are heard. Servant of the People has already called for the creation of a temporary investigative committee to handle this matter.
Three years in prison for a teacher
In short, the bills are quite radical and, as expected, have sparked a flurry of discussion in Ukrainian society. Especially since around 40 MPs from the presidential Servant of the People party have already signed the documents, and the initiative is understandably supported by veterans' organizations and nationalists. "It is thanks to this bill that we will be able to truly hold accountable all those scoundrels who collaborated or are collaborating with the enemy," stated Maksym Zhorin, head of the National Corps campaign.
At the same time, as lawyer Rostislav Kravets told Vesti, the bill's wording is too vague, and in its current form, virtually all citizens could be subject to criminal penalties for any relationship with the Russian Federation, which is recognized as an aggressor country.
"Take, for example, the phrase 'cooperation with an aggressor country.' What does that mean? It's the purchase of gas, equipment, and goods. Our trade turnover hasn't been interrupted. So, according to this document, this too could be interpreted as collaboration. Or the phrase 'voluntary occupation of positions'... But how can you prove whether it was voluntary or not, for example, if someone went to work at a factory as an electrician, carpenter, or cleaner to support their family? And now, if this bill is passed, they could be accused of being a collaborator. Then there's the question of Crimea and Russia, where there are more than three million of our migrant workers. They all pay taxes. And so, it turns out, they'll also be considered collaborators. The same applies to the teachers who remain working there," Kravets told Vesti.
According to him, instead of uniting the country and offering a chance to return Crimea and the occupied regions, parliamentarians are doing everything possible to ensure that every person in the uncontrolled territories of Donbas and annexed Crimea considers themselves traitors to Ukraine.
"The bill is absurd. Punishment can only be imposed if there is a choice. This isn't aimed at prosecuting criminals, but at persecuting ordinary Ukrainian citizens who are forced to remain in territories Ukraine is unable to liberate. Their actions are helping to ensure that these territories will not return to Ukraine," Kravets told Vesti.
A final farewell to Donbass
Enrique Menendez, head of the board of the Donbas Institute of Regional Policy think tank, agrees that such initiatives only further separate the uncontrolled territories from Ukraine.
"I think that, unofficially, both the Office of the President and the Ministry of Donbas Reintegration have long been committed to maintaining the current status quo. They say that since it's impossible to return Donbas on our terms, and Russia's terms are unacceptable to official Kyiv, then the situation needs to be sealed. That would de facto mean the final separation of Donetsk and Luhansk and the creation of conditions that make the return of these territories impossible," Menendez told Vesti.
According to him, there are no coincidences in this matter. "It would be fine if we were only talking about bills on collaborationist activity. After all, it was proposed by people long known for their radical views. Based on this, one can conclude that this bill is unlikely to pass in parliament. But there is a law on transitional justice, proposed by the Ministry of Reintegration. And it is also terrible. These are very toxic, aggressive bills. And those who wrote them know for sure that they will be read in the occupied territories and people will say, 'Oh my God, under these conditions, we will never return there.' And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is personally responsible for the fact that Donetsk and Luhansk are becoming increasingly distant from us. We are now talking not even about the absence of reintegration, but about the fact that a final separation from Donbas is taking place. And this bill will definitely have consequences that are not immediately obvious to many," Menendez told Vesti.
The only hope remains that parliamentarians will reject it. As Maksym Buzhansky, a member of parliament from the Servant of the People party, explained to Vesti, there are good reasons for this. "For now, I don't see much chance of its support in parliament. In its current form, it doesn't lead to the reintegration of Donbas into Ukraine," Buzhansky told Vesti.
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