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Kiev not considering amnesty, special status for Donbas — foreign minister

According to Pavlo Klimkin, the French initiative on immunity is discussed in the format of post-conflict settlement
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin Maxim Nikitin/TASS
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin
© Maxim Nikitin/TASS

KIEV, October 7. /TASS/. Kiev authorities are not considering the issues of a special status to Donbas or amnesty, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the country’s parliament on Wednesday.

"They tried to impose on us an "amnesty list" or a special status. There will be no such things," Klimkin stressed.

The minister said the French initiative on immunity is discussed in the format of post-conflict settlement.

"Amnesty is a judicial process rather than a political one, it may take place only when Ukrainian prosecutors and the court will be locally," Klimkin said. "The Balkan states have the experience of such an amnesty."

Speaking about another stand-off over the special status, Klimkin said "no special status actually exists."

"We have the law on peculiarities of local self-government regime, and the references to this law are included in the constitution. It is the only [law] that solves the situation with the special local self-rule in these regions," he said.

The Donbas special status and amnesty are required under the Minsk agreements signed on February 12 in the Belarusian capital, which also envisage the ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbas and constitutional reform in Ukraine.

Kiev insists on granting OSCE mission with access to whole territory of Donbas

Klimkin went on to say that OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) should be granted full access to the whole territory of Donbas, including regions bordering with Russia.

He said the topic was discussed at the summit of the "Normandy Quartet" (Russian, France, Germany and Ukraine) on October 2 in Paris.

"The main agreement which did not receive much attention was providing full access to OSCE in Donbass, including regions near the Russian-Ukrainian border. The access, like it is outlined in the OSCE mandate, is our chance to directly control the situation, our chance to have more presence in Donbas," the foreign minister told the Verkhovna Rada session.

After the "Normandy Quartet" summit in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said it was necessary to ensure that the OSCE mission has full access to the whole territory of Donbas. The issue was later raised by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.