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Kremlin blasts Ukraine’s Donbass reintegration bill as 'unacceptable'

The Kremlin believes the Ukrainian bill on Donbass reintegration contradicts the Minsk agreements

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. The Ukrainian bill on the reintegration of the Donbass region runs counter to the Minsk agreements, and the fact that Russia is called an aggressor country in it is unacceptable, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

"As far as we understand, according to the information we have on the bill at the moment, it is rather declarative. It contains a paragraph, in which Russia is called an aggressor. Also, there is no mention whatsoever of the Minsk agreements there. From the purely legal point of view, this wording cannot be acceptable for us either de jure or de facto," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.

Peskov added that, "from the legal point of view, this, of course, contradicts both the letter and the spirit of the Minsk agreements, since there is no such definition in the Minsk agreements."

"Russia is a signatory, namely, a guarantor of the Minsk agreements," Peskov noted. He noted that "the Ukrainian president who also inked the agreement in Minsk thereby indicated his agreement with it."

"This bill is purely declarative. There is another bill there, which is in line with the extension of the special status for the Donbass region, which is important," Peskov said. In his view, "this is an important bill, since the expiration of the validity of the previous special status law was, of course, a source of concern for everyone."

"Russia continues to be committed to the Minsk agreements considering them the basis for attempting to make progress in the settlement in the future, which has no alternative," the Kremlin spokesman added.