Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on humanitarian support for people living in certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions. The document was posted on the official portal of legal information on Monday.
According to the document, the decision was taken "in order to protect human rights and freedoms, to provide humanitarian support for the population of certain districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk region and to prevent further worsening of living conditions amid the continuing economic blockade and the deteriorating coronavirus situation."
The document emphasizes that the Russian president took this decision "guided by the generally recognized principles and norms of international humanitarian law."
Putin ordered the government, within one month, to take measures to ease access for goods from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to Russian markets, including the participation of such goods in state procurements.
"By way of an exception until a political settlement in certain areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions on the basis of the Minsk agreements, the Russian government, within the term of one month, should ensure access for goods originating from the said area on equal conditions with goods of the Russian origin for the purposes of procurements of goods to meet government and municipal needs and procurements of goods by certain legal entities," the document says.
Apart from that, the Russian government should ensure recognition of certificates of origin issued in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics in Russia.
Other measures include the exemption of goods crossing Russia’s state border to or from these areas from quantitative regulations of imports and exports.
The government has also been tasked to amend Russian laws to implement the decree.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Putin's decree does not comply with the Minsk agreements and Kyiv expects France and Germany to condemn Putin’s actions.
The diplomat noted that the decree testifies for further economic integration of ORDLO with the economy of the Russian Federation.
"We are waiting for this decree to be condemned because it clearly contradicts the wording and the meaning of the Minsk agreements," Kuleba said.