Razumkov found excuses for denying Donbass special status
Ukraine does not plan to grant the Donbass republics a special status and hold local elections there, as prescribed in the Minsk Agreements.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmitry Razumkov stated this on the Ukraine 24 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the politician, today all the conditions necessary for these points to be fulfilled have not been formed, and linked the granting of special status to Donbass with the exchange of prisoners, the disengagement of troops and the mandatory compliance of possible elections with Ukrainian legislation.
“If we are talking specifically about this point of the Minsk agreements, then let’s be frank - any plan must be implemented step by step, right? One, two, three, four, five - and reach the corresponding point in the Minsk Agreements. Let me ask you questions: have the first points of the Minsk Agreements been fulfilled? Unfortunately, you will be forced to answer me that no.
In part we can talk about an exchange, but it is also not comprehensive, in part we can talk about complete silence at the front, but this is also not one hundred percent true. Yes, indeed, in recent months the situation has changed quite significantly, we see a decrease in shelling on our side, but we cannot objectively say that these points have been completed 100%.
The same goes for the withdrawal of heavy weapons and many other things, including the withdrawal of troops from temporarily occupied territory, and many other things that need to be done before that. If we are talking about elections, then elections must be held according to Ukrainian legislation, must be elections, and not an appointment, with access to all political parties and forces that are registered on the territory of our state, with free access for our journalists.
This is an election that must be recognized by the various international organizations that monitor elections. As of today, I think that it is unfortunately impossible to organize this process in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbass,” says Razumkov.
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