MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) have sent to the head of the Ukrainian Constitutional Commission, Vladimir Groisman, and members of the Contact Group on Ukraine’s crisis resolution draft amendments to fix the special status of Donbas, says a joint statement by the DPR and LPR chief negotiators in the Contact Group - Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego, released on Wednesday.
"We have submitted proposals on changing the Constitution of Ukraine in accordance with paragraph 11 of the set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements of February 12, 2015 to the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine, addressed to Vladimir Groisman and to the Minsk Contact Group, addressed to OSCE Representative Heidi Tagliavini, as well as to Russia’s representative Azamat Kulmukhametov, Ukraine’s representative Leonid Kuchma and interim political affairs group coordinator Pierre Morel. They provide for the inclusion in the Constitution of Ukraine of an additional section, fixing the special legal status of separate districts of Donbas," the statement says.
The proposed draft envisages, in particular, "the creation of people’s militia units controlled by the local authorities, the Russian language official status, a special economic regime and other rights." They also provide for the possibility of concluding a set of treaties and agreements between Ukraine’s central authorities and Donbass. It is also proposed to introduce amendments to the constitution’s articles on the judicial system, on the local self-government and administrative-territorial organisation of Ukraine.
In addition, the text of the draft provides for constitutional recognition of non-aligned status of Ukraine.
Denis Pushilin said that DPR and LPR have repeatedly applied to the Constitutional Commission and also personally to its head Groisman, but have not received an answer. "In the run-up to the meeting of the Ukrainian Constitutional Commission scheduled for May 13, 2015, we have again submitted in a written form our legislative proposals. If Ukraine introduces these amendments to its constitution, then the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics will also introduce corresponding amendments to their constitutions," the DPR chief negotiator said.