Today, on September 2, at a meeting of the Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, the draft Law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the Legal Regime of Martial Law regarding the peculiarities of restoring public authority in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol” (№11064) of March 4, 2024, was supported. The draft document and proposed changes were presented to the Committee members by Iryna Vereshchuk, Vice Prime Minister-Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories. Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva also joined the discussion of the draft law and called for its support.

“The draft law addresses issues that have not been systematically resolved since 2014 and is an important step towards restoring the functioning of state bodies in the de-occupied territory of Crimea. As the state authorities have not been functioning since the beginning of the temporary occupation, and it will not be possible to resume their work immediately after the liberation of Crimea, the draft law provides for the possibility of establishing military administrations in Crimea at all levels–from the local to the republican level, as well as the termination of the powers of those who held elected positions and civil service,” the Permanent Representative emphasized.

The draft law is a continuation of the state policy on the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory, which includes the resumption of the work of state institutions after the de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and was developed under the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Resolving Certain Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea” (Law No. 3334-IX), which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the eve of the Third Crimea Platform Summit on August 23, 2023.

The document was developed by the teams of the Ministry of Reintegration, the Mission, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the National Agency for Civil Service, experts, and civil society organizations involved in the issues and problems of Crimea.

The draft law provides for the possibility of establishing military administrations on the territory of Crimea at all levels, from local to republican. The text for the first reading is approved by the Committee. The draft law will then be considered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. We hope that Ukrainian MPs will support it.

We thank Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, the team of the Ministry of Reintegration, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for their systematic cooperation.