Advisory Council on the Deoccupation of Crimea

Presidential decree #283/2023 of May 18, 2023 

Decision-maker: the President 

Status: in effect since May 18, 2023 

Who is affected: government bodies and inhabitants of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol 

Summary of the decree: 

• approves the composition of the Advisory Council on the Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol 
• amends the regulations on the Advisory Council and lists the members of the Council. Ex officio, the following persons are included: the Head of the Office of the President, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the Permanent Representative of the President in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Deputy Prime Minister — Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, the Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology Development — Minister of Digital Transformation, the Deputy Prime Minister — Minister for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the minister of Culture and Information Policy, the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General, the Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, two representatives of the Crimea Platform Expert Network, and others. 

What is wrong: 

• the President once again tries to substitute the legitimate executive bodies with his advisory bodies. The Advisory Council will take over the development of a state policy, which is the responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers and the ministries 
• the primary responsibilities of the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine include reintegration and restoration of temporarily occupied territories. 

Background information: on August 15, 2022, the President created the Advisory Council on the Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol as an advisory body under the President. 

The key tasks of the Advisory Council are: 

• to set priorities for policies on deoccupation, reintegration, human rights protection in the Crimea peninsula, compensation for damage caused by Russia’s armed aggression 

• to participate in the designing of key positions of Ukraine within the framework of the Crimea Platform Expert Network 
• to prepare proposals for improvement of legislation on deoccupation and reintegration. 

Alternative solution: the state policy on reintegration should be developed by the Cabinet of Ministers because the Government is the only state body that has the authority to address defense, internal affairs, justice, economy, education, healthcare, and social security issues. All of them are essential components of the future process of reintegrating the temporarily occupied territories into life under Ukrainian law.