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Date of early elections in Donbas may be changed, Poroshenko says

Poroshenko noted that early local elections, according to the Minsk memorandum, should be held in compliance with Ukrainian laws

KIEV, October 19 /TASS/. The date of early local elections in the separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions can be changed, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukraine’s leading television channels on Saturday.

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“We are not insisting on December 7. Any date will be suitable. We are ready to make relevant changes,” he said.

Poroshenko noted that early local elections, according to the Minsk memorandum, should be held in compliance with Ukrainian laws.

Earlier, Alexander Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said that the DPR wanted to hold its own elections on November 2 and would not “perceive” Poroshenko’s law on granting a special status to Donbas.

Alexei Karyakin, the chairman of the People’s Council of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, told TASS on Saturday that the law signed by Petro Poroshenko was unacceptable for the LPR.

A law on a special form of local self-government in separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions took effect on Saturday.

The special status will be in force for three years. The Ukrainian authorities have promised not to prosecute, punish or bring administrative charges against persons involved in the conflict in Donbas.

Early local elections are to take place on December 7, 2014.

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Ukraine crisis Parliamentary election in Ukraine

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