MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, that the July 15 resolution of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on the procedure of local elections runs counter to the Minsk agreements and threatens settlement prospects, the Kremlin press service said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.
"Vladimir Putin described the resolution on local elections in 2020 that was passed by the Verkhovna Rada on July 15 as running counter to the Minsk agreements and putting settlement prospects in jeopardy," the press service said.
The Russian side "expressed serious concern over the recent pronouncements by Ukraine’s top officials on the unacceptability of a number of provisions of the Package of Measures and the necessity of its revision," it noted. "The Russian president specially noted that the position that there are no alternatives to the Minsk agreements that was once again voiced by Vladimir Zelensky during this telephone conversation should be materialized in real actions of the Kiev authorities."
The two presidents also exchanged views on the situation around the coronavirus pandemic.
On July 15, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution calling local elections in Ukraine, with the exception of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, on October 25. As for Donbass, according to the Verkhovna Rada, elections there will be called by a separate law after Ukraine regains control over the state border and on conditions of "restoring constitutional law and order, ensuring security in the regions, disarming armed groups and withdrawing weapons."
Following this resolution, the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) said that by this resolution Ukraine "officially reiterated that it waives its commitments under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2202 and under provisions 9, 11, and 12 of the Minsk agreements that envisage that control over the border is to be passed over after elections and comprehensive political settlement.