DONETSK, November 21. /TASS/. The government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has decided to establish a Pension Fund, the DPR press center reported Friday.
“The decision was made in connection with cessation of operations by the Pension Fund of Ukraine on the DPR territory,” the report said. Galina Sagaidakova was appointed acting chairwoman of the Pension Fund.
Last week, Poroshenko signed a decree that puts into force the decision of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council of November 4 “On urgent measures to stabilize the social and economic situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
The decree in particular envisions that the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) will consider the bill on invalidation of the law “On a special procedure of local self-rule in separate districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” adopted in September.
Poroshenko's decree touches upon the operation of the social and economic structures of Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk regions): in particular, it envisions that pensions will no longer be paid to residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics. The republic’s authorities say the decree aimed at economic suffocation of Donbass is out of line with Ukraine’s constitution.
The document also contains a number of other instructions to various Ukrainian ministries and departments, which relate to the operation of the social and economic structures of Donbass.
Fierce clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April, to regain control over the breakaway southeastern territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, have killed over 4,000 people.
The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire at talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.
The ceasefire took effect the same day but has reportedly occasionally been violated.
Ukraine’s parliament on September 16 granted a special self-rule status to certain districts in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for three years.
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum on September 19 in Minsk, which outlined the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.
The nine-point document in particular stipulates a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.