DONETSK, February 2. /TASS/. Kiev’s plans to offer a new package of agreements on Donbass to the leaders of the Normandy Four nations (Germany, Russia, France, and Ukraine) are doomed to failure, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and DPR’s chief negotiator at the Contact Group peace talks, Natalia Nikonorova, said on Sunday.
Ukrainian presidential aide Andrei Yermak said in an interview with the Krym - Critical Thinking project on Saturday that early local elections in Donbass could be organized in October on condition of the withdrawal of "foreign armed groups" and Kiev’s regaining control over the Donbass section of the border with Russia. For these ends, Ukraine would draft a new package of agreement on Donbass by the next meeting of the Normandy Four leaders.
"Mr. Yerkmak, and the entire Ukrainian leadership, should finally accept the fact that any revision of the Minsk agreements is neither possible nor expedient," Nikonorova said.
She stressed that the Package of Measures could not be revised as it had been approved by the United Nations Security Council. Moreover, in her words, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky reiterated Kiev’s commitment to the Minsk accords during the Normandy Four summit in Paris on December 9, 2019.
"It should be recalled that early local elections in Donbass are possible only after discussing and agreeing all legal aspects of the permanent special status with the republics’ representatives. It implies unblocking of the law on Donbass’ special status by means of the implementation of the Steinmeier formula, elaboration of acts and agreements stemming from this law and enshrining the special status in the constitution," she stressed.
Apart from that, she doubted that the Ukrainian authorities would be able to do that before October, since by now nothing had been done to incorporate the Steinmeier formula into Ukraine’s laws.
Peace settlement of the conflict in Donbass rests on the Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, that was signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, after marathon 16-hour talks between the leaders of the Normandy Four nations, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. The 13-point document envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including amnesty, resumption of economic ties, local elections and a constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.