Russian Senate Repeals Law Allowing for Military Deployment in Ukraine

Local Editor

Russia's Federation Council voted to repeal the legislation which allows the use of Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine if there is a threat to the local Russian population on Wednesday.

The decision, which follows the request of Russia President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, had 153 MPs out of 154 vote in favor of the law's cancelation, which comes in force the day it is approved.

Chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Security and Defense, Viktor Ozerov, said Putin's proposition is a manifestation of Russia's goodwill and aims at supporting trilateral talks on Ukraine.

"The Federation Council still has the right to monitor the situation in Ukraine, follow the fulfillment of ceasefire conditions by the parties [Kiev and Ukraine's eastern regions]...and provide humanitarian help," he said.

Furthermore, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Ilyas Umakhanov, said Putin's request is not ‘correction work' but a positive signal to Western countries.

"Moreover, I hope that our Western partners will receive these positive signals and stop inventing more scary stories [about Russia] and abandon the policy of whitening radical groups in Ukraine," he added, "Russia has confirmed its status of a great power, which defines its political course independently," he said.

On Tuesday, Putin asked the council to repeal the decision to allow military force in Ukraine.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that, "Because of the beginning of the three-party talks to settle down the situation in the eastern parts of Ukraine, the head of state has addressed to the Federation Council to repeal the resolution on the use of Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine."

The Federation Council's resolution from March 1 declares that the president has the right to use military force on the territory of neighboring Ukraine "until the normalization of the social and political situation in that country," he said.

Furthermore, the resolution was adopted following a presidential address demanding security be maintained "for citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots and personnel of the Russian contingent deployed in accordance with international agreements on the territory of the [then-]Autonomous Crimean Republic of Ukraine," he added.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team