List of terrorist organisations to be created in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: president.gov.ua

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law providing for the formation and maintenance of an official list of terrorist organisations.

This is evidenced by information on the Rada's website.

According to the law, the list will include organisations that carry out terrorist activities both on the territory of Ukraine and abroad, while posing a threat to the country's national security.

Among the main provisions:

• A legislative mechanism for including organisations in the list of terrorist organisations is established,
• the list covers organisations that carry out terrorist activities on the territory of Ukraine or abroad, posing a threat to state security,
• the list is maintained by the SSU, which now has a clear list of grounds for including organisations, eliminating discretion.

In the explanatory note to the draft law, its authors noted that the results of the analysis of current Ukrainian legislation show that there is no systematic legal regulation of the procedure for recognising an organisation (group) as a terrorist, which does not allow for effective legal response to illegal activities, including those of international terrorist organisations.

The law aims to strengthen Ukraine's institutional capacity to counter terrorist activities. Once an organisation (group) is included in the list of
of terrorist organisations (groups), it will be possible to take preventive measures against terrorist organisations (groups) through the sanctions mechanism.

As a reminder, in 2023, the United Kingdom recognised the Wagner Group (PMC Wagner) as a terrorist organisation, and people can be imprisoned for supporting it in the country.