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Law on elections, signed by Ukrainian president, inapplicable to Donetsk, Luhansk — envoy

Kiev’s actions of the kind continue the policy of sabotage and imitation of implementation of the political parts of the Minsk agreements, DPR’s envoy to the peace talks Denis Pushilin says
DPR’s envoy to the peace talks Denis Pushilin  ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze
DPR’s envoy to the peace talks Denis Pushilin
© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. The Ukrainian law on local elections, which President Poroshenko has inked, was adopted in violation of the Minsk agreements on settlement of the situation in the country and is of no importance for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), DPR’s envoy to the peace talks Denis Pushilin said on Friday.

"The Complex of Measures to implement the Minsk agreements gives clear provisions regarding the procedure of adopting a low on elections and of addendums to the constitution with representatives of the DPR and LPR," he said. "But neither these nor any other regulations have been discussed with us by the Ukrainian side. This means the law, which was inked on Thursday, does not have anything to do with the Donetsk or Luhansk republics."

Kiev’s actions of the kind "continue the policy of sabotage and imitation of implementation of the political parts of the Minsk agreements."

On August 6, President Poroshenko signed a law on local elections, which reads the elections are due on October 25, though elections in districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are not controlled by Kiev, will not be organised. DPR and LPR said the law contradicts with the Minsk agreements and appointed dates of the local elections: October 18 in DPR and November 1 in LPR. President Poroshenko said then the elections of the kind may have "devastating consequences for the process of de-escalation in Donbas."

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Complex of Measures to fulfill the September 2014 Minsk agreements.

The Complex of Measures (Minsk-2), earlier agreed in the Belarusian capital with leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias starting from February 15.

Based on September’s stillborn Minsk peace protocol, the deal also laid out a road map for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.