The People's Deputy from the "Opposition bloc" Sergei Levochkin said that the constitutional reform in Ukraine, one of the provisions of which is the decentralization of power, will contribute to the cessation of hostilities in the Donbass.

This is discussed in an article for the American magazine U. News & World Report "" Power to the Ukrainian people ".

"When West Germany recovered from mass destruction due to World War II, the creators of the new order paid close attention to lessons learned from the Weimar Republic that led to the collapse of the Adolf Hitler regime. The result was a careful balance of powers in the new constitution and the so-called Basic Law, which essentially provided the regions of Germany with the same right to govern the country as the capital, first in Bonn and now in Berlin. The final reunion depended on the fact that everything was done for him. The rest came later, "he wrote..

Levochkin notes that although "the situations are not quite the same," Ukraine is now also a divided country because of the war in the Donbass.

"The price for these military operations is enormous: tens of thousands of people killed, millions of displaced people, and also billions of lost assets and productive capacities - not to mention the territory. But the political elite in Kiev has adapted to the realities of this conflict. It's no secret that in Ukraine there are certain political forces that benefit from the war. Some politicians from the ruling coalition openly call to cut off the Donbas and completely deprive the civil rights of our citizens who live there, "the deputy believes..

"The new laws adopted by the ruling coalition have introduced quotas on the use of the Russian language on television, blocked Russian social networks in Ukraine and, thereby, deprived a significant proportion of Ukrainian citizens of the basic rights to communicate and express opinions that people around the world enjoy, including Number in many authoritarian regimes, "he added..

He called the Ministry of Information Policy "Orwellian", stating that it "regularly threatens the mass media that do not correspond to the official agendas of the state".

"Opposition TV channels are attacked by supposedly unofficial military formations that maintain close relations with the parties that make up today's ruling coalition. One of these television channels, Inter, was set on fire and attacked in September last year, and although this happened in broad daylight, there were no convictions, "Levochkin continued..

The People's Deputy is sure that the ultimate goal of intimidating the media is to inspire fear of the opposition.

"And corruption in the higher echelons of power, which allegedly caused the Revolution of Virtue in 2014, has not diminished, but, according to a whopping 80 percent of Ukrainians, has really blossomed in the last three years. All these obstacles to a free and prosperous country are supported in one form or another by the specter of war. In the east, clashes are taking place today, so it is premature to start building a sustainable world. But now it's not too early to start laying the framework for a world that citizens of Ukraine need, not the "coalition of war," he writes..

"The experience of Germany in the post-war period is applicable to these frameworks and key elements that have become the basis of the Minsk agreements between Moscow and Kiev. These include the transfer of more powers from Kiev to the regions and constitutional amendments that will create a stronger balance of power in the country, transferring the bulk of power to local and regional authorities. The current Kiev government does not want to allow these changes officially, so they require first the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the Donbas, but in fact such changes will undermine the corporate regime that they built and strengthened in the name of war, "the MP stressed.

Levochkin stressed that the new constitution can and should become a way out of today's crisis.

"For structural reforms that would contribute to peace and become a source of growth for Ukraine, people in all regions need to talk more about local government. This means direct elections of governors, and not their appointment as president. This also means a reduction in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as a return to the people of greater power, which in recent years has been usurped by a powerful presidency. Political processes in our country need to be reformed if we want to breach the ever-deepening corruption, "he wrote..

"The constitutional and broad legislative changes that we need to achieve these results can only happen as a result of the process of national reconciliation and dialogue, as well as the reintegration of Donbass. Those who want to end the war and really unite the country, and this is supported by almost 80 percent of Ukrainians, should not fall into the trap, which one wise man called the greatest folly of man: forget what must be done first of all, "the People's Deputy.

The oppositionist expressed confidence that the way to achieve peace in the Donbass "is at hand".

"Recently, a high-ranking Russian official recognized for the first time the need for direct negotiations between Moscow and Washington on the Ukrainian question. And the new president of America, who is under the fire of opposition in his country for asserting that he is too close to Russia, can have one or two surprises when they speak of him as a potential peacemaker. As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently stated, it may be time to think not only within the framework of the Minsk agreements when it comes to decisions of the Ukrainian question, "recalled Levochkin.

"But in Ukraine, our changes must come from within, and the best way to make changes to the force is to adopt a constitutional reform. Reforms should concern the imbalances existing in our political structures, for peace and unity, to become that necessary condition, which last month in his last tweet was mentioned by the late Zbigniew Brzezinski. These changes can become a way to peace in Ukraine and give new energy to the development of Ukraine. Once divided and later united Germany is a clear example. Now we must find an inner determination to provide our children with such a united Ukraine that they really deserve, "the deputy concluded..

According to the "Observer", in April, Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman said that the decentralization reform, launched three years ago, has already allowed the regions of Ukraine to get more opportunities, to provide financial and administrative independence, and today it is necessary to develop and strengthen this process, increasing the level of responsibility Local authorities.

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