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No law passed by Ukrainian parliament to promote political settlement in Donbass

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been in place since April 2014

KIEV, January 8. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or Parliament, has passed not a single document to promote political settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, former President Viktor Yushchenko said on Sunday.

UKRAINE CRISIS

He noted that not a single provision of the Minsk agreements on the Donbass settlement has been implemented as of today. "Starting from the very first paragraph on ceasefire and up to transfer of border control. Nothing has been implemented. Nothing is working," he said in an interview with the 112.Ukraina television channel.

According to the former president, the Ukrainian political establishment will have, sooner or later, to give an answer to the question "how it sees the resolution of Ukraine’s key problem - that of war and peace." "Our parliament has passed not a single document that would outline the ruling elite’s or the majority’s vision of political solution to this conflict," he said.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been in place since April 2014. The Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements, known as Minsk-2, that was signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, envisaged a ceasefire regime between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) starting from February 15, 2015 and a subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.

The peace plan however has not yet been implemented. The Ukrainian side is dodging implementation of the deal’s political provisions citing security problems as a reason. It has failed to carry out a constitutional reform. Neither has it enforced a law on the region’s special status or passed a law on local elections in Donbass. Instead, Kiev is insisting on regaining control over the border section with Russia, although under the Minsk agreements it is to be done only after the elections.

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