Kremlin comments on Kiev’s plan for Donbass reintegration

MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. The Kremlin has no detailed information yet if the Minsk Accords are incorporated in Kiev’s plan for Donbass reintegration.

"It remains to be seen what is on the agenda, what details (Kiev’s plan contains)," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media. "We have no details on that score yet."

Peskov recalled that some aspects of Donbass reintegration were stated in the Minsk Accords.

"There should be clarity to what extent this is taken into account in the document being drafted in Kiev," he added.

Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko on June 14 said he had issued instructions to draft a bill on Donbass reintegration. It would reportedly encompass a number of measures and steps that would have to be taken to ensure the region’s re-integration and to identify its legal status. Poroshenko said the bill relied on the terms stated in the Minsk Accords. Ukrainian presidential spokeswoman Irina Lutsenko said the bill on the reintegration of Donbass would give some special legal status to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics. She stated that the bill being drafted would enhance the Ukrainian state’s defense capabilities in the area of the military operation.

"What we have in mind is the legal status of military operations and the recognition of the legal status of certain uncontrolled territories of Donbass," she said.

Lutsenko explained that the yet-to-be passed law would improve the socio-economic situation in the region: the issue of birth certificates, notarized documents and so on.

"We are building a strategy of restoring sovereignty over the Donetsk and Lugansk republics," she said. "Also, there will follow harmonization of changes in the current situation in the country in accordance with the Minsk Accords and another confirmation that Ukraine would be prepared to make decisions and that it seeks a political and diplomatic settlement."