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Donetsk leader urges sanctions on Kiev over its reluctance to fulfill Minsk peace deal

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristaiko stated that Kiev would neither grant a special status to Donbass nor pardon the Ukrainian conflict participants

DONETSK, September 16. /TASS/. As guarantors, Germany and France should penalize Kiev with sanctions for its unwillingness to fulfill the Minsk agreements to settle the Donbass crisis, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin said on Monday.

"The statements by Ukraine’s new foreign minister that Kiev is not planning to amend the constitution in order to grant Donbass a special status came as no surprise to us… Ukrainian politicians, who have been declaring full commitment to the Minsk [agreements] throughout all these years, are trying to avoid responsibility for failing to honor their obligations," Pushilin said in a statement published on the Donetsk News Agency’s website.

The Donetsk leader recalled that the special status provisions for the region and on absolving individuals linked to the Donbass events had been confirmed by the Minsk deal, which was backed by the UN Security Council’s binding resolution.

"Any changes and amendments to the Minsk agreements are out of question. If we assume that the world community and the Minsk deal’s guarantors are unbiased, then sanctions should have already been slapped on Ukraine, at least by Germany and France, for violating the agreements and failing to fulfill its commitments as well as for public statements about this made by officials," Pushilin emphasized.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristaiko said on September 14 that Kiev would not amend the country’s constitution to include the provisions on granting a special status to Donbass. He also stated that no amnesty would be provided for the Ukrainian conflict participants, although this was stipulated by the Minsk peace accords. Earlier, the head of Ukraine’s delegation to the Contact Group Leonid Kuchma made a similar statement, stressing that President Vladimir Zelensky would not grant Donbass any special status.

When commenting on Kuchma’s statement, Russia’s envoy to the Contact Group Boris Gryzlov noted that any decisions and steps by Kiev and Donbass should be in line with the Minsk deal, stressing that such statements were a direct violation of the agreement, thus jeopardizing the entire peace process. He noted that this move was aimed at whipping up tensions in Donbass rather than achieving peace as promised to Ukrainian voters.