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Kiev’s rejection of law on Donbass' special status spells end of any UN mission — senator

The idea of a UN mission is directly connected to execution of the Minsk accords, a Russian senator has reiterated

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Kiev’s refusal to extend the law on the special status of Donbass actually spells the end of any further discussion on deploying any UN mission whatsoever to the region, member of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee for Defense and Security Alexey Pushkov said on Thursday.

"Rejecting this law eliminates any grounds for discussion on a UN mission in Donbass," he stated, speaking at a meeting of the Committee for Social Support of Southeast Ukrainian Residents.

"The idea of a UN mission is directly connected to the fulfillment of the Minsk accords, serves as an extension to the Minsk accords and can be executed only on the basis of the Minsk accords."

Pushkov reiterated that the issue had been discussed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in this way.

"They proceeded from the fact that the Minsk accords are operating," the senator stressed. "If Kiev rejects, in fact, the Minsk accords (due to refusal to prolong the law on the special status - TASS), it, in fact, rejects grounds to deploy the UN mission to Donbass."

Pushkov affirmed that Kiev’s authorities, nevertheless, did not intend to adopt a new law or prolong operation of the existing one. "Hopes for any rationalism are futile," he said.

"Kiev has another agenda, and it includes the exacerbation of nationalist aspects in Ukrainian politics, as can be seen from the law on education that pits Ukraine against Hungary, Romania and, partly, against Poland and Bulgaria." He also pointed out that this indicates what the direction the Ukrainian state’s logic is headed for. The lawmaker said the strengthening of the country’s facade as a state that is at war with Russia is seen as a priority, and this means yielding to elements of nationalist degeneracy by Ukraine and its further march down the ultranationalist course.

Noting once again that the law on the Donbass special status serves as a framework for the Minsk accords, the senator expressed confidence that its rejection does not mean "undermining the entire peace process or any prospects of a political settlement."

"This, in fact, leads to freezing the situation," Pushkov continued. "Russia is often accused of it, but, in fact, by rejecting the law, Kiev is leading the issue towards a deep freeze of the eastern Ukrainian crisis."

"We need to clearly state to our western partners that settlement on the basis of the Minsk accords is impossible without this law. We should promote this point at all international venues, including the UN, the OSCE and bilateral formats," Alexey Pushkov stressed.

Under the Minsk accords, Kiev had to enact the law "On the special status of local self-governance in the separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions." It was adopted in October 2014 with a three-year term, but has never operated, in actual fact. In March 2015, despite the Minsk accords and without coordination with Donbass representatives, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko introduced amendments to this law that actually blocked the functioning of this document. On October 18, 2017, the three-year term for the law will expire.