LUGANSK, October 27. /TASS/. Remarks by Ukraine’s chief negotiator at the Minsk talks Leonid Kuchma that the Steinmeier formula is absurd and harmful for Ukraine are total nonsense, Vladislav Deinego, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said on Sunday.
"Such escapades are total nonsense for a serious politician who is responsible for talks on fulfilling the Minsk agreements, which he had signed," Deinego said, according to the LuganskInformCenter.
The foreign minister recalled that the Steinmeier formula’s text had been agreed on at the meeting of political advisers of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine). Later the document was sent to the Contact Group for settling the crisis in southeastern Ukraine to be signed by the conflicting sides - Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk.
Some three weeks ago, at the Contact Group’s meeting on October 1 Kuchma confirmed that Ukraine had agreed on the Steinmeier formula by sending an official letter to Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Martin Sajdik, he noted.
"Moreover, several days later Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting in Tokyo personally thanked Frank-Walter Steinmeier for his formula and for supporting Ukraine," Deinego said.
On Friday, Kuchma stated at a meeting with students of Chernigov National University of Technology that the Steinmeier formula could not bring peace to Donbass since it was aimed at "putting the squeeze on Ukraine" and "selling it out." He also rejected the idea of holding elections in Donbass before Ukraine’s authorities assume control over the border with Russia as demanded by the Minsk deal. Kuchma ruled out a special status for Donbass stressing that this would be switching to confederation, which he considered as unacceptable.