Moscow, November 7 (Interfax) - Russia thinks that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's decision to repeal the law on a special status for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions cancels out the Minsk accords.
“President Petro Poroshenko’s decision to repeal the special status law practically nullifies the Minsk agreements, moreover, that is done under the doubtful pretext of the alleged illegality of the Donbas elections,” Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council held in Vienna on Nov. 6.
The Russian Foreign Ministry posted his speech on its website on Nov. 7.
“If the media reports are correct, a new law on the special status of Donbas may now be considered as a substitute for the repealed bill and it may delimit the borders of districts with the special local self-government regime and, probably, set a new date for local elections,” Kelin said.
“It is of paramount importance for the new edition of this law to provide real decentralization of power consistent with item 3 of the Minsk Protocol,” the diplomat said.
“Obviously, the text of this law, which applies to residents of large Ukrainian regions, should be discussed with their representatives. In this case, there will be no inconsistencies that undermined confidence in the Oct. 16 law. And it is absolutely impermissible to adopt a new law with intentionally impossible conditions,” Kelin underscored.
