You're reading: Leaders agree to postpone Minsk deal implementation and Donbas elections

The leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia agreed late on Oct. 2 at a meeting in Paris to postpone the implementation of the Feb. 12 Minsk ceasefire deal beyond the end of 2015.

They also agreed to delay elections in
Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Donbas and hold them under Ukrainian law.

The agreement comes as fighting dies down in
eastern Ukraine and as Russia shifts its attention to Syria, where on Sept. 30 it
launched airstrikes against rebel groups to support dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The talks in Paris were held between
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin,
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Hollande said that France would not change
its position on Ukraine because of Russia’s military operation in Syria.

The elections scheduled by Donetsk-based
Russian-separatist forces for Oct. 18 and by Luhansk-based ones for Nov. 1 must
be postponed, Hollande said.

“On the election issue, it will take longer.
We don’t want elections to get held in eastern Ukrainian territories under
conditions that would not respect Minsk,” he said.

“It’s therefore likely, even certain now,
that – since we need three months to organize elections – we will go beyond the
date that was set for the end of Minsk (process), that is to say (beyond) Dec.
31, 2015.”

Hollande said that the elections should be
held within 80 days after Ukraine passes a law on elections in Russian-occupied
areas of Donbas.

In March Ukraine passed a law giving
Kremlin-held areas of Donbas broader autonomy and stipulating that it should be
introduced after elections are held there under Ukrainian law. In August, the
Verkhovna Rada also approved in the first reading constitutional amendments
that envisage such autonomy.

All candidates in the elections must be given
immunity from prosecution, while Kremlin-backed separatists should be
amnestied, Hollande said.

After the elections, Russian troops must be
withdrawn from Ukraine, and Ukraine should regain control over its border with
Russia in the parts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts where it does not currently
have control, he added.

Russia will hold talks with Kremlin-backed
separatists on holding elections in Donbas, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said.

Another agreement reached in Paris is that
Ukraine will start withdrawing weapons with a caliber of less than 100
millimeters from the frontline on Oct. 3, Poroshenko said. The withdrawal must
be carried out within 41 days, he said.

Military equipment with a caliber of more
than 100 millimeters has already mostly been withdrawn.

Poroshenko also said that monitors of the
Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe would get access to the
entire Russian-occupied territories of Donbas.

Meanwhile, Putin promised to make sure that a
Ukrainian officer of the 81st brigade
taken prisoner by Russian-separatist forces was released, according to
Poroshenko.

The next meeting of the four leaders is to
take place in November.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be
reached at
[email protected]