Ukrainian parliament bans pro-Russian parties

On May 3 the Ukrainian parliament adopted in the second reading and, in general, the Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Prohibition (Dissolution, Compulsory Dissolution) of Political Parties (№ 7172-1).

According to the deputy from the presidential party Olha Sovhyrya, members of parliament supported the decision by 330 votes.

“Finally, we will stop tolerating in our political sphere ‘the russkiy mir’(Russian world), which brings so much destruction in Ukraine” she commented.

The Verkhovna Rada passed a bill banning the activities of pro-Russian parties in the first reading on April 1. With this bill, parliament regulated the procedure for banning, dissolving, and forcibly dissolving political parties.

The reasons for approval of such legislation were the popularization or propaganda of the Russian authorities, its officials, persons, and organizations controlled by the aggressor state.

Those political forces that publicly deny Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, the annexation of Ukrainian territories, and justify violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty accordingly to the new legislation will be prohibited.

Commenting on the adoption of the law, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk noted: “The adopted Law provides an opportunity to promptly respond to the activities of anti-Ukrainian, collaborationist, parties in Ukraine by banning them.

The procedure is as follows: The Ministry of Justice will collect evidence of such activities and apply it to the court, which should ban the party that is working for the enemy. If the party is prohibited, property and other assets become the state’s property. ”

On March 20, the National Security and Defense Council suspended all activities of a number of pro-Russian political parties while martial law is in place. The ban includes 11 parties, including the Opposition Platform – For Life (OPZZh).

On April 21, parliament, during its regular session, announced the creation of a new parliamentary group of former members of the OPZZh faction. The Platform for Life and Peace includes 25 deputies chaired by Yuriy Boyko

17 ex-members of OPZZh also voted in favor of the new legislation: 12 deputies from the new group (” Platform for Life and Peace “) and another 5 deputies from OPZZh, who are non, former, faction members.

There were no votes against the bill, but abstention from deputies Vasyl Nimchenko and Serhiy Dunaev from the Platform for Life and Peace faction.  Curiously,  40 deputies from different factions, including Yulia Tymoshenko, Iryna Herashchenko, and 15 members of the presidential faction were apparently in the parliament but didn’t vote for the new law.