Contents tagged with Verkhovna Rada

  • Ukrainian President proposes to abolish parliamentary immunity

    During his speech for Constitution Day, President Petro Poroshenko called for parliamentary immunity to be abolished.

    “The high profile cases, the decisive steps in the fight against corruption, which are being demonstrated by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anti-corruption Bureau, remind us all of what an anachronism parliamentary immunity is. My bill to change the constitution is ready. It will require political will from the MPs – once and for all, to put themselves on the …

  • Ukrainian Parliament proposes to call the military operation in the Donbas a ‘local war’ to further its integration back into Ukraine

    A draft bill on the reintegration of the Donbas proposes to introduce a concept of “local war” in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. This was stated by Verkhovna Rada Deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity" Volodymyr Ariev, 112 Ukraine reports.

    According to Ariev, the antiterrorist operation (ATO) that is being carried out in the Donbas now uses an "outdated format.” He said that according to Ukrainian legislation, in case of seizure of territories, either an ATO should be conducted …

  • Verkhovna Rada adds the goal of joining NATO to Ukraine’s foreign policy

    On Thursday, May 8, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill Number 6470 that defines Ukraine’s accession to NATO as one of the bases of foreign policy. 276 people's deputies voted in favor of bill.

    In the old version of Article 11 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Basics of Domestic and Foreign Policy," the priority was defined as "to deepen cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in order to meet the criteria necessary to obtain membership in this organization."

    Now, the goal of …

  • Chairman Parubiy suggested inviting an interpreter to the Verkhovna Rada for the benefit of those who do not speak Ukrainian

    People's deputies from the Opposition Bloc had an argument with the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Andriy Parubiy, regarding speeches in Russian.

    As UNIAN reports, during a session concerning one of the current problems, a deputy from the Opposition Bloc Natalia Korolevska got up on rostrum and began her speech in Russian. Parubiy encouraged her to speak the state language. Korolevska agreed, but asked to apply such approach to all MPs.

    Later, Deputy Oleksandr Dolzhenkov began …

  • The Verkhovna Rada approved participation of NATO soldiers in exercises in Ukraine

    On Thursday, 19 January, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the holding of exercises in 2017 with the participation of NATO armed forces in the country. 236 of 329 MP’s present at the meeting voted in favor of the proposed law approving the decision of Petro Poroshenko. The remaining members did not vote, as indicated on the Rada’s website.

    According to the addendums to the proposed legislation on the website of the Ukrainian parliament, the proposal for the international training …

  • Ukraine’s ruling coalition disbands

    The faction "Samopomich" (Self-Reliance) announced its withdrawal from the ruling coalition of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, meaning that the coalition has effectively collapsed. Only two factions, “Bloc Petro Poroshenko” and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s "Narodniy Front" (People’s Front) remain in the coalition. The two factions combined compile less than half of the votes in parliament.

    “The party leadership decided that it is impossible [for "Samopomich"]… to remain in an alliance with …