Donetsk, Sep 28 - DAN. Ukraine’s delaying the Donbass peace process has casued a crisis in the negotiations, DPR envoy to Minsk talks Denis Pushilin told a meeting of the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament Committee on Public Support of Residents of Southeastern Ukraine on Thursday.
“All the parties to the negotiations agree that providing special status to the Republics is the only way towards a political settlement,” Pushilin said. “If the special status timeframe exprires, it will cause serious damage to the whole peace process.”
“Regrettably, Ukrainian representatives are making all efforts to sabotage its implementation; they have been delaying the process for three years to bring the situation to the current crisis,” he said.
Having accepted the terms of the Steinmeier formula which spells out the mechanism for enforcing the law on special status self-rule in DPR and LPR, the Republics made considerable concessions to Ukraine, signalling their readiness for the solution of the key issues. However, Kiev representatives refuse to meet over any issues thus “showing their lack of interest in peaceful settlement,” the envoy said.
“We don’t see positive moves on the part of Ukraine, which is very irresponsible in the current circumstances,” Pushilin said.*jk