You're reading: Ukraine Contact Group not ruling out extension of Minsk accords

MINSK - The timeframe for implementing the Package of Measures to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which was adopted in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February, may be extended to 2016 in order to allow the sides to fulfill its main political points, a source in the trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine told Interfax.

“From a technical standpoint, it will be difficult to fulfill the presumed conditions of a compromise, which may be reached by the sides in the issue of holding the local elections in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including an amnesty, the enactment of a law granting special status to Donbas and the adoption of an individual law on local elections in the region, within three months. In this sense, additional time may be needed to implement these decisions and directly organize and hold the elections in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” the source said.

A technical decision to prolong the Package of Measures may be made in the form of appropriate amendments to this document, he said.

“Most likely, amendments extending the timeframe for implementing the Package of Measures to 2016 may be adopted as we approach the end of the year,” he added.