State Duma To Discuss Donbas Situation On Tuesday

The State Duma will consider the situation in Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics during its next plenary session on Tuesday, lower house Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin wrote in a Telegram post Saturday evening. The official reiterated the Kremlin's familiar assessment of the situation, pinned the blame for the escalation on Kyiv/West and expressed an opinion that the implementation of fresh Western sactions against Moscow is a done deal.

• Recall that last week the Duma passed a resolution asking President Putin to formally recognise Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics as sovereign states. Lawmakers voted in favour of the text of the appeal submitted by the Communist Party (KPRF), rejecting an alternative proposal from the ruling United Russia (UR) which failed to garner support from KPRF lawmakers. The latter draft bill was somewhat watered down and included consultations with the Foreign Ministry before making an appeal to the President. Independent newspaper Meduza published a source report noting that "the initial assumption was that the lawmakers would vote for United Russia’s bill," but then "rank-and-file deputies from United Russia (....) were informed" that they could "support both documents," even as a handful of top-ranking UR officials did not support the KPRF proposal. One source told Meduza that "if this particular initiative on recognizing the DNR and LNR turns out to be of “no use,” the authorities can always claim that it was developed by an opposition party whose position doesn’t reflect the opinion of the majority of Russians." Meduza reported that its "sources believe that Putin won’t sign the resolution on recognizing the “people’s republics” in the near future. However, the State Duma’s initiative “may prove useful” in the event that relations with Ukraine — or the United States — deteriorate even further."
• It is unclear what will be the outcome of the Duma's plenary session on Tuesday but owing to its relatively weak status in Russia's political system and the dominance of United Russia, the general course of the debate will likely be dictated by the agenda of the presidential administration.