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What Ukraine's Donbas law meant on 18 January 2018
Summary
A look back at the day Ukraine's parliament passed its law on the deoccupation of Donbas, days after Russia reinforced air defences in Crimea.
What did Ukraine's parliament decide on 18 January 2018? The Verkhovna Rada adopted, in its second reading and as a whole, the law on the deoccupation of Donbas, completing its passage through the chamber.
The vote came against a tense backdrop on the peninsula Russia had seized earlier. On 13 January 2018, five days before the vote, Russia deployed a second S-400 anti-air missile battalion in Crimea, as reported at the time.
Crimea in the background
Russia invaded Crimea in February and March 2014, occupied it and then annexed it after a referendum that was not legitimate. That took place amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. The invasion marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Crimea's annexation has since been described as an instance of modern Russian imperialism, and it was the first time since the Second World War that a European country had annexed part of another.
Two signals in one week
The two developments pointed in different directions. In Kyiv, lawmakers put into legislation their approach to the territories occupied in the east. On the Russian side, the move in Crimea added to the military hardware on the peninsula.
Taken together, the events of 13 and 18 January 2018 show how the conflict was running on both a legislative and a military track in the fourth year after the annexation.
