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Poroshenko to submit to parliament Wednesday decentralization amendments to Constitution

According to the Ukrainian president, such changes do not envisage granting any special status to the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko

© AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

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Passing of law on elections without consent of Donetsk, Luhansk to violate Minsk accords

KIEV, July 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he would submit draft amendments to the Constitution concerning power decentralization to the country’s parliament (the Verkhovna Rada) before the end of the day.

According to him, such changes do not envisage granting any "special status" to the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) in the country’s south-eastern Donbas region.

"I have received proposals of the Constitutional Commission today, passed by the Commission head Volodymyr Groysman. I’ll send them unchanged to the Rada before the end of the day as a draft law," he said.

"The draft amendments to the constitution do not envisage any special status for Donbas," Poroshenko said, adding that "all such rumours are groundless."

According to Poroshenko, "The draft [amendments] envisages the possibility of a special local self-government procedure in separate administrative-territorial units of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, determined by a separate law."

"The local self-government regime in separate areas of Donbas, in accordance with the transitional provisions [of the draft amendments to the Constitution], fully complies with the Minks agreements," the president added.

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The Constitutional Commission approved on June 26 the basic text of decentralization amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution.

Poroshenko said that "Donbas representatives have taken part in drafting these constitutional changes." Following his statements, the authorities in the Donetsk and Luhansk republics said that the DPR and LPR had delegated nobody to take part in the work of the constitutional commission.

A constitutional reform is an important part of the February 12 comprehensive action plan to fulfil the Minsk accords worked out by leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France in the search for peace in the embattled eastern Donbas region. A key element of reform is decentralization of government with respect to the peculiarities of certain parts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions agreed with their representatives, as well as adopting permanent legislation on the special status of certain Donbas areas.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine Eastern Ukraine Pyotr Poroshenko

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