Donetsk, Aug 17 - DAN. Ukrainian authorities continue to aggravate the situation with the deadlocked Donbass talks instead of trying to settle the conflict in the region, Donetsk People’s Republic Foreign Minister, DPR representative in the Contact Group Natalia Nikonorova told the Donetsk News Agency on Tuesday.
On August 5, the Ukrainian Cabinet approved the draft law on the “state policy of the transition period.” The document sets forth the use in Donbass of the “the transition period concept which envisions a certain legal regime. Some experts say that it is aimed at cleansing the region of the forces disloyal to Kiev, which has nothing to do with the Minsk Agreements.
“The lawbill approved by the Ukrainian Cabinet has to determine, according to Ukrainian legislators, the “red lines of deoccupation and reintegration of Donbass and Crimea. In actual fact, this document only determines one “red line” with which Kiev has closed the door on the implementation of the Package of Measures and other Minsk package acts,” Nikonorova said.
She noted such phrases in the document as “lasting peace,” “stronger social ties with the temporary occupied territories” and “solution of humanitarian problems.” Meanwhile, the text says nothing about the norms that have to be fixed in the Ukrainian legislation in accordance with the Package of Measures, including the special status of Donbass, constitutional reform, laws and bylaws on amnesty, elections, etc.
“Any person who has read the text of the Package of Measures even once, will clearly understand the absurdity of the Ukrainian authorities’ attempts to convince the international community that the lawbill in question contributes to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. In the future, Kiev might expect not the title of reliable negotiating partner but political-diplomatic and sanction measures as mentioned in the lawbill,” the DPR diplomat said.
The Agreements dated September 5 and 20 2014 and February 12, 2015 forged by the Contact Group in Minsk make groundwork for a peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict. The Contact Group set forth a peace plan and agreed a ceasefire, then adopted the Memorandum on ceasefire implementation and later on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements. It envisioned immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Donbass, withdrawal of heavy weapons, establishment of security zones, discussion of the modalities for the resumption of payment of pensions and allowances to DPR and LPR citizens, and constitutional reform in Ukraine which should result in deep decentralisation.*jk