Donetsk, Jan 25 - DAN. Kiev representatives at the Contact Group political subgroup session on Tuesday preferred to discuss decentralisation across Ukraine instead of the special status for Donbass, Donetsk People’s Republic Deputy Foreign Minister, DPR representative in the political subgroup Natalia Mikhailova said.
“Today, they made as if they were discussing special status issues, though they were talking about all-Ukrainian decentralisation parameters instead,” Mikhailova said after the meeting. “Our counterparts flatly refused to discuss the issue of cementing the special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Ukrainian constitution, without even trying to to show an intention to fulfill the Package of Measures or go for a compromise which is essential for any dialogue. “
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 and 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.
The political part of the agreement required Kiev to grant a special status to Donbass and carry out a Constitutional reform in Ukraine which should result in deep decentralisation. The reform has to take into account the specifics of the conflict-affected areas and be coordinated with representatives of these areas.*jk