Donbass’s People’s Republics: Path to Independence

In February 2014, Ukraine was rocked by a Western-backed coup d’état that overthrew democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych. Crimea, Odessa, Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk and other regions were overrun with protests by those opposed to the outcome of the Euromaidan ‘revolution’. Protesters demanded the federalisation of Ukraine and people’s militia units were formed in the Donbass. In response, acting president of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchinov announced an ‘anti-terrorist operation’ in the Donbass, which by the summer grew into a full-scale war, complete with the use of military aviation and heavy armour.

In May of 2014, political forces in the Donbass organised referendums on the self-determination of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics were proclaimed. Kiev did not recognise the results of the vote, and ramped up its military operation.

Did Ukraine’s Constitution allow for self-determination? According to Article 73, questions on changes to territory were only to be answered via a national referendum. However, this point should be considered in connection with the Constitution’s other norms. Article 5, for example, declares that the people of Ukraine are the source of all power, and that no one has the right to usurp power.

In the spring of 2014, Ukraine did not have elected authorities. President Yanukovych was overthrown in February, and power was usurped by the opposition forces. Consequently, the people of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions decided to determine their own fate via referendum.

Between September 2014 and February of 2015 the trilateral contact group of Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE, and later Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France hammered out a plan for peace in the Donbass – the Minsk Agreements. One of their central points was the need for Kiev to adopt a law on a special autonomous status to be granted to the breakaway territories.

In September 2014, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law on the special status for the Donbass, but made it applicable only to those ‘separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions’ outside Ukraine’s control. The law included the right to use the Russian language, amnesty for participants of the armed conflict, and the formation of a people’s militia. At the same time, a temporary, three-year period of special local self-government was allowed for.

The issue of local elections became a stumbling block preventing the law’s implementation. Under its terms, elections would be held in accordance with norms set in Kiev, i.e. without taking account of the situation which developed in the aftermath of the Euromaidan coup. Kiev refused direct elections with the representatives of the self-proclaimed republics. The Minsk deal required direct dialogue between all parties to the conflict.

The DPR and LPR held elections on 2 November 2014. Alexander Zakharchenko was chosen leader of the DPR, and Igor Plotnitsky was selected as head of the LPR. Kiev did not recognise the results of the votes.

In March 2015, Ukraine’s parliament passed a new law, declaring the DPR and LPR “temporarily occupied territories”. In essence, the law quashed the preceding law on a special status for the Donbass.

In 2016, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier proposed a new initiative aimed at resolving the crisis. The plan, dubbed the ‘Steinmeier formula’, proposed the granting of special status to the Donbass republics temporarily –on the date that local elections were to take place. At the same time, the elections had to be held under Ukrainian law and under the control of Organization for Security Co-Operation in Europe observers. After the recognition of the elections, the republics were to receive permanent special status as part of Ukraine.

Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia expressed support for the Steinmeier Formula. However, in time Ukraine began to demand new conditions: a ceasefire, the removal of forces from the line of contact, the return of control over the entire border with Russia and the introduction of peacekeepers. Some of these demands contradicted the Minsk Agreements, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict.

In 2018, Ukraine adopted a new law on the reintegration of the Donbass. The Donetsk and Lugansk Republics were again painted as “temporarily occupied territories.” All mention of the Minsk Agreements were removed from the law before it was passed.In 2019, then-freshly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to implement the Steinmeier Formula, but backed down after tens of thousands of ultra-nationalist radicals and opposition supporters gathered in the streets threatening to oust him if he proceeded.

On 18 February 2022, after weeks of escalating shelling, sabotage and sniper attacks by Kiev forces, the leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics announced a mass evacuation of the civilian population to Russia, saying they feared an imminent full-scale offensive by Ukraine.

On 21 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting the Donbass republics the status of sovereign and independent states.

Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia followed suit in recognizing the two new countries. The United States and its European allies refused to do so, dubbed Russia’s actions a “gross violation of international law,” and slapped Moscow with new sanctions.