The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law “On National Security”. In fact, this document replaces three documents that were in force earlier - “On the Fundamentals of National Security” (2003), “On the Organization of Defense Planning” (2005) and “On Democratic Control over the Military Organization and the State” (2003). After the new law comes into force, they will lose their force.

Formally, the adoption of the new law was explained by the fact that the previous norms were laid down in peacetime, and therefore did not take into account all the subtleties that became obvious in recent years, when the country had to urgently restore its defense capability.

However, no one hid that in fact this document was adopted at the insistence of Western partners and is a logical continuation of Ukraine’s aspirations.

It seemed that when making amendments, the authors of the bill were much more interested in getting approval from American advisers than from their own colleagues in the parliamentary corps.

“This law is important not only for reforming the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also for bringing them to NATO standards. This is extremely important because the NATO summit will take place on July 11-12 in Brussels. Ukraine has been invited there, I hope we will get good news there. It was critically important that this law be adopted before the summit... The direction to NATO is the strategic vector of Ukraine. It was a difficult discussion. It was important to coordinate positions between factions, with NATO partners,” the speaker said in an interview with the 112 Ukraine TV channel.

What will the new Ukrainian law change?

The Minister of Defense and his deputies will be selected from among civilians. This will bring the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) closer to NATO, or, as interpreted by supporters of the legislative initiative, will bring the Ukrainian army in line with international standards.

However, experts assess these changes quite favorably. The Minister of Defense is rather a political figure. He defends the interests of the military in the highest corridors of power, extracts funding, and is involved in the general activities of the department. But he does not directly control the fighting. However, citizens often address complaints about what is happening in Donbass to this official figure.

In addition, the positions of commander-in-chief and chief of a. will be divided.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will exercise general leadership and have under his command the General Staff, all types of troops and other support services, which will obey his orders and report to him on their execution.

Control over the army will be exercised, among other things, by the president, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, the government, courts and public organizations, for which special commissions and committees will be created. According to the plan, in this way citizens will be able to see where the funds allocated for the army are spent, as well as monitor the observance of human rights and freedoms.

There is also a point about the economic component. The law spells out all strategic programs that should clearly define security vectors in the long term. This list includes a military security strategy, a national security strategy, a strategy for the development of the military-industrial complex and a number of other similar documents.

Everything for the elections

Experts say that this is what the Western partners insisted on most. This is not surprising, because so far, despite all efforts, loans issued by other economic donors are not spent very effectively and are completely opaque.

248 people's deputies voted for the adoption of the law, 17 were against it, and another 32 abstained. The largest number of negative votes belong to the Opposition Bloc party. The co-chairman of the opposition faction commented on the situation:

“National security is a complex thing, which includes military security, energy security, economic security, food security, environmental security, and medical security. And what we were asked to vote on was a document that—moreover, only partially—takes military security into account. That is why we did not support the relevant law,” he said.

As a political scientist told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday, this law is important primarily for Ukrainian President Peter, as it opens up new opportunities for integration into NATO. According to the expert, the provisions of the law synchronize a number of provisions that are necessary for cooperation not so much in the economic sphere as in the political, defense and military spheres.

Political scientist Ruslan noted in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels that

the bill will strengthen Poroshenko’s influence on the military, which has always been the subject of his special concern and fears, plus this is important on the eve of the start of the active phase of the election campaign for the presidential election in Ukraine.

The new law separated the civilian Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff from among the military, and all financial issues within the ministry will be supervised personally by the President. “The military and financial sectors will be separated. The President is increasing his influence on. The President will control the financing of this sector. The Minister of Defense will become the supply manager... This will cause elements of chaos,” Bortnik added.

Plus, the law will not achieve its main goal, says the former deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine. “This law does not open any path to NATO. The law repeats dozens of previous ones and mixes previously established norms. It is much more interesting that after the first reading, a discreet amendment to the law on commercial metering of natural gas appeared in the law. This means there will be a new redistribution of the oil refining industry in Ukraine,” Portnov wrote on his Facebook.

Another problem with the adopted document, says Major General Vasily Vovk, is that it lacks specifics. He spoke about this in a conversation with Ukrainian journalists. “Our intentions to join NATO are good. But the security and defense sector needs to be reformed comprehensively, and not through one-off actions like this law,” he emphasized.

Among the fundamental national interests of Ukraine, the law names the acquisition of membership in the European Union and NATO.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law “On the National Security of Ukraine” (No. 8068).

According to an UNIAN correspondent, 248 people's deputies voted for this decision.

The law defines the principles of state policy in the areas of national security and defense. Among the fundamental national interests of Ukraine are the following: integration of Ukraine into the European political, economic legal space, in the field of security; membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; development of equal, mutually beneficial relations with other states.

The law states that threats to the national security of Ukraine and the corresponding priorities of state policy in the areas of national security and defense are determined in the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, the Military Security Strategy of Ukraine, the Cyber ​​Security Strategy of Ukraine, and other documents on issues of national security and defense that are approved by the National Security Council and defense and are approved by decrees of the President of Ukraine.

The law talks about civil control, in particular about the state of law and order in the security and defense sector, their staffing, modern weapons, military and special equipment, availability of necessary supplies of material resources and readiness to carry out tasks for their intended purpose in peacetime and during special periods ; efficient use of resources, in particular budgetary funds, by security and defense sector bodies.

The law determines which areas are controlled by the President of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Cabinet of Ministers. The law determines that public associations can, in particular, receive from government bodies information on the activities of components of the security and defense sector, except for information with limited access; conduct public examination of draft laws, decisions, programs, present their conclusions and proposals for consideration by the relevant government bodies.

Ukraine's security and defense sector consists of four interconnected components: security forces; defense forces; military-industrial complex; citizens and public associations who voluntarily participate in ensuring national security.

The law establishes that the amount of spending on financing the security and defense sector must be at least 5% of the planned volume of gross domestic product, of which at least 3% is on financing the defense forces.

Leadership in the areas of national security and defense is exercised by the President of Ukraine, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and issues orders and directives on defense issues; he heads the National Security and Defense Council, addresses the people and issues annual and extraordinary messages to the Verkhovna Rada on the internal and external situation of Ukraine.

In addition, the President exercises general leadership of Ukraine's intelligence agencies; submits to the Verkhovna Rada a proposal to declare a state of war and, in the event of armed aggression against Ukraine, makes a decision on the use of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine; makes a decision on general or partial mobilization and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine or in its individual localities in the event of a threat of attack or danger to the state independence of Ukraine; makes, if necessary, a decision on introducing a state of emergency in Ukraine or in certain localities, and also, if necessary, declares certain localities of Ukraine as zones of environmental emergency with the subsequent approval of these decisions by the Verkhovna Rada.

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine is appointed to the position by the Verkhovna Rada on the proposal of the president from among civilians. The first deputy and deputy ministers of defense are appointed to positions from among civilians.

The Final and Transitional Provisions of the Law stipulate that this provision comes into force on January 1, 2019.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is appointed to the position on the recommendation of the Minister of Defense and is dismissed by the President of Ukraine. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports to the President and Minister of Defense. The powers of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are approved by the President of Ukraine. At the same time, it is indicated that only from January 1, 2021, the norm on the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, commanders of branches and individual branches of troops (forces) comes into force.

During a special period, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine performs the functions of strategic leadership of the Armed Forces, other components of the defense forces and is the working body of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters (if it is created).

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who is appointed and dismissed by the President of Ukraine on the proposal of the Minister of Defense.

The law determines the composition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - types and individual branches of troops (forces).

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is appointed to the position of Verkhovna Rada upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The activities of the National Police of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the State Border Service of Ukraine, the State Service of Ukraine for Emergency Situations and the State Migration Service of Ukraine are directed and coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers through the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

It is determined that in peacetime the National Guard is part of the security forces and performs law enforcement functions, and also develops the abilities necessary to perform tasks as part of the defense forces. With the introduction of martial law, the National Guard is prepared to carry out assigned tasks under the legal regime of martial law and is part of the defense forces. The strategic leadership of the National Guard is exercised by the President of Ukraine through the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as stated in the presidential decree on the introduction of martial law, which is approved by the Verkhovna Rada.

It is stipulated that the Security Service of Ukraine ensures state security: countering reconnaissance and subversive activities against Ukraine; fight against terrorism; counterintelligence protection of state sovereignty, constitutional order and territorial integrity, defense and scientific and technical potential, cybersecurity, economic and information security of the state, critical infrastructure facilities; protection of state secrets.

The head of the SBU is appointed and dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada on the proposal of the President of Ukraine.

It has been established that the SBU is a special-purpose state body with law enforcement functions that ensures the state security of Ukraine.

At the same time, MP Anna Gopko insisted on introducing a number of her own amendments, which would have deprived the SBU of the function of combating corruption and organized criminal activity, but they were not supported.

According to the law, the State Security Service of Ukraine is subordinate to the president and controlled by parliament. The head of the CID is appointed and dismissed by the president.

The Final and Transitional Provisions of the Law indicate that this law comes into force on the day following the day of its publication, except for a number of provisions.

On June 19, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense recommended that parliament adopt the bill as a whole. In total, about 427 amendments were submitted to the bill, 311 of which were rejected by the committee.

At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Center said that the committee headed by Sergei Pashinsky did not consider amendments to the bill that would have allowed the SBU to deprive the SBU of functions in the field of economics and the fight against corruption that were unusual for the intelligence service.

The CPC noted that the corresponding amendments were submitted by Gopko. If the proposed amendments were adopted, the SBU would lose the opportunity to engage specifically in counterintelligence in the economic sphere and operational investigative activities in the economic sphere and the fight against corruption.

“Despite Anna Gopko’s demand to put for consideration and voting amendments to deprive the SBU of functions unusual for the special service, committee chairman Sergei Pashinsky did not do this. The text of the bill itself was distributed to committee members half an hour before the committee meeting,” the CPC noted.

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The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as a whole bill No. 7163 on the specifics of state policy to ensure the state sovereignty of Ukraine over the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. During the discussion, there was a discussion about whether to mention Crimea and Sevastopol in the title of the bill, but such an initiative did not gain sufficient support.

At the same time, the preamble talks about the occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol. In particular, the date of the start of the temporary occupation of Crimea on February 20, 2014 is indirectly referred to as the start date of the occupation, referring to another law.

The bill defines the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as those over which the armed formations of the Russian Federation and the occupation administration of the Russian Federation have established control (and these are land, water, subsoil and air). The boundaries of such territories must be determined by the president on the proposal of the Ministry of Defense on the basis of proposals from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (as amended for the first reading, such powers were granted to the Ministry of Defense). The complete absence of Russian military personnel in the occupied territories must be recorded by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine - together they must submit a presentation to the President of Ukraine, and he will make a decision on this basis. The beginning and completion of measures to ensure national security and counteract the aggression of the Russian Federation are determined by decisions of the president.

It is argued that the Russian Federation, despite the occupation, does not receive any rights to the territory, and the duration of the occupation does not matter. Almost all acts issued by the occupation administration of the Russian Federation are invalid and do not create legal consequences - except for documents on the birth or death of a person in temporarily occupied territories. Russia bears responsibility for moral and material damage caused to Ukraine, state authorities and local self-government, as well as the obligation to ensure the protection of the civilian population.

Context

Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine

UNN 01/17/2018

Why Ukraine won't declare war on Russia

Apostrophe 01/18/2018

Ukraine abandons Minsk?

Riga.Rosvesty 01/16/2018

The Kremlin is not going to annex Donbass

Observer 01/07/2018 Ukraine, for its part, must take measures to ensure state sovereignty, including sanctions, and also use international cooperation mechanisms to maintain and strengthen sanctions against the Russian Federation. Authorities in Ukraine are collecting data on human rights in the temporarily occupied territories, and must also create an interdepartmental coordination body to summarize the state’s position on the issue of repelling and containing the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as prepare a consolidated claim against the Russian Federation.

At the suggestion of MP from the BPP Viktor Pinzenyk, the Tax Committee was instructed to prepare urgent changes to the legislation in order to regulate the rules regarding trade sanctions. People's Deputy Refat Chubarov (from the same faction) insisted that a date for making such changes be set - no later than January 31.

It is alleged that to counter aggression from the Russian Federation, forces and means are used in agreement with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. All forces to counter aggression are led by the General Staff. At the same time, a Joint Staff must be created, it will be headed by the commander of the Joint Forces. The Commander of the Joint Forces exercises his powers through the joint operational headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its powers are determined by the regulations on the operational headquarters, which is developed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the proposal of the Minister of Defense.

The Commander of the Joint Forces, in the event of a real threat to the life and health of persons who cross the demarcation line, has the right to restrict the entry of these persons into the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for the period of existence of this threat. In territories adjacent to the combat zone, a special procedure operates, according to which security sector bodies and other government agencies have special powers to ensure national security. The boundaries of such territories are established by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the recommendation of the Commander of the Joint Forces.

Law enforcement officers and those involved in countering aggression receive the following rights:

• in case of emergency, use weapons and special equipment against those who break the law or try to illegally enter the zone of countering aggression;

• detain these persons and bring them to the National Police;

• check the documents of citizens and officials, and if they are missing, detain them to establish their identity;

• inspect the personal belongings of citizens in their presence and in their cars;

• temporarily restrict or prohibit the movement of vehicles, pedestrians on the streets and roads, not allow people and cars to go somewhere, in particular to objects, remove people from a certain area, tow vehicles;

• enter people's homes, private land plots, enterprises, institutions and organizations, if this is necessary to counter external aggression;

• for official purposes, with the permission of the owners, use communications equipment and vehicles, including special ones - except for vehicles of diplomatic, consular and other missions of foreign states and international organizations.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively from foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

The Rada adopted a number of important laws. Photo from the site news.yellow-page.com.ua

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Anti-corruption law

The Verkhovna Rada today adopted the law “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine in the field of state anti-corruption policy in connection with the implementation of the Action Plan for the liberalization of the EU visa regime for Ukraine.” 289 out of 348 people's deputies registered in the session hall voted for this decision.

The law provides for the implementation of the recommendations of European Commission experts regarding the improvement of the provisions of anti-corruption legislation provided as part of the negotiations on EU liberalization of the visa regime for Ukraine. In particular, sanctions for criminal corruption offenses have been tightened. Offering and promising a bribe will become criminal offenses, and administrative liability will be provided for providing false information in declarations.

It is also envisaged to introduce external control regarding declarations of property, income, expenses and financial obligations. The law establishes administrative and disciplinary liability for providing false information in declarations.

This law clearly delineates the competence of law enforcement agencies responsible for the fight against corruption. The powers of the revenue and duties authorities and the Military Law Enforcement Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine to draw up protocols on administrative corruption offenses have been withdrawn.

Anti-discrimination law

People's deputies supported in the second reading the bill "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine (regarding the prevention and counteraction of discrimination)." 236 people's deputies voted for the corresponding decision.

According to the bill, discrimination (direct or indirect discrimination, declared intention to discriminate, incitement to discrimination, complicity in discrimination, infringement) by state authorities, local governments, their officials, legal entities of public and private law, as well as individuals is prohibited. persons

The procedure for compensation for material damage and moral damage is determined by the Civil Code of Ukraine and other laws. Persons guilty of violating the requirements of legislation on preventing and combating discrimination bear civil, administrative and criminal liability.

Refugee Rights Law

With this law, Parliament expanded the concept of “subsidiary protection” of refugees, in accordance with European standards, as well as the concept of “temporary protection” of refugees. Alexander Turchynov noted that the adoption of this law will help simplify the visa regime for Ukrainians visiting the EU.

Law on the activities of the Ombudsman in the field of personal data protection

The Rada has amended a number of laws regarding the activities of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the field of personal data protection. In accordance with the changes, it exercises control in the field of personal data protection not only between citizens and authorities, but also in relations arising between legal entities of public law and private law, as well as individuals located on the territory of Ukraine.

Law on simplification of the procedure for liquidation of enterprises and SPD

People's deputies generally supported the bill "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs" (on the reorganization of state institutions and simplification of the termination of legal entities)." 228 deputies voted for the corresponding decision.

The adoption of the law will significantly simplify the reorganization and liquidation of legal entities, and, therefore, will improve the business climate and will help attract domestic and foreign investment, and improve Ukraine’s place in international rankings of investment attractiveness.

In addition, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill to amend some legislative acts of Ukraine in connection with changes to the liquidation procedure. The main purpose of its adoption is to significantly simplify the procedures applied when terminating the business activities of individual entrepreneurs. Now liquidation will take only one day.

Legislation establishing a temporary special commission to investigate deaths in the southeast

People's deputies supported the draft resolution on the creation of a temporary special commission (TSC) to investigate the facts of massacres in Odessa, Mariupol (Donetsk region) and Krasnoarmeysk (Lugansk region), as well as in other cities in the south and east of Ukraine. 263 people's deputies voted for the corresponding decision. It is proposed to appoint People's Deputy from the Party of Regions from the Odessa region Anton Kisse as the head of the VSK.

Law on the Protection of Investor Rights

The Rada adopted a law amending some legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the protection of investor rights. In particular, an additional basis is provided for termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the owner with certain categories of employees under certain conditions, such as “termination of powers of officials” without specifying specific reasons for this. The minimum amount of severance pay upon termination of an employment contract in connection with the termination of the powers of an official is also established in the amount of the average salary for six months.