Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has decided to recognize certain certificates issued by medical and forensic institutions in Russia-occupied Donbas.
This decision concerns mainly death and birth certificates of Ukrainian citizens.
There will be an ad hoc commission that will decide whether documents should be accepted or rejected by the Bureau of Acts of Civil Status (the so-called ZAGS, or RATsS in Ukrainian) in each particular case.
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Yet, the Ukrainian government stresses that recognizing individuals' documents issued by de-facto authorities in the occupied territory does not mean recognition of the occupying administrations' authority.
When enacting the decision, the Ukrainian authorities were guided by provisions of the Namibian Exception [the Advisory Opinion issued on June 21, 1971, by the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations], as well as Law of Ukraine No. 2268-VIII dated January 18, 2018, on specifics of state policy to ensure state sovereignty of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko announced the Ukrainian authorities were ready to restore the railway service with Russia-occupied Donbas.
