Donetsk, Feb 26 - DAN. Ukrainian negotiators in Minsk agreed that the documents on special status for Donbass had to be approved before the region held local elections, Donetsk People’s Republic representative to the Contact Group, DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said.
“Ukrainian representative at today’s meeting finally acknowledged that the amendments to unblock the law on special status for Donbass and the legal acts that stem from the Package of Measures had to be passed and published before holding early local elections,” Nikonorova said.
The Republic welcomes Ukraine’s acknowledgement of necessity and priority of these actions as it confirms that the coordination of local election modalities is the final stage on the political track.
“Despite the fact that we heard an undoubtedly sound idea from the Kiev representative today, I want to underscore that merely voicing it is obviously not enough: we still await from Ukraine the promised official position on these issues in writing,” the diplomat said.
The Agreements dated September 5 and 19, 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.
The Package of Measures envisions a Constitutional reform in Ukraine which has to result in deep decentralisation. Special status for Donbass is a key point of the political part of the agreements.*jk