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EU summit demands hostage release, start of talks in Ukraine's East — Poroshenko

Should this not happen, the Ukrainian president said, the European Council is ready to “gather at any moment again to discuss new restrictive measures against the Russian Federation”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko  EPA/JULIEN WARNAND
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
© EPA/JULIEN WARNAND
POROSHENKO’S PLAN

  1. “Security guarantees for all participants of the talks”;
  2. “Relief from criminal responsibility for those who laid down arms and did not commit grievous crimes”;
  3. “Liberation of hostages”;
  4. “Creation of a 10 km buffer area on the Russian-Ukrainian state border. Withdrawal of illegal paramilitary groups”;
  5. “Creation of a guaranteed corridor for the withdrawal of Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries”;
  6. “Disarmament (not specified on which side it spreads)”;
  7. “Setting up of units within the Interior Ministry for carrying out joint patrolling”;
  8. “Liberation of illegally captured administrative buildings in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”;
  9. “Resuming of activities of local authorities”;
  10. “Renewal of central television and radio broadcasting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”;
  11. The document also includes steps for “decentralization of power (by electing executive committees, as well as the protection of the Russian language, and draft bill on amendments to the Constitution);
  12. The plan envisages “the approval of the governors’ candidacies with Donbass representatives before the elections”. However, the document specifies that this clause will be observed only in case there is a joint candidacy. In case there are differences in candidacies, the president keeps the last word.
  13. The plan concedes holding “snap local and parliamentary elections” in Ukraine.
  14. The president pledges to develop “a program of creating jobs” in Ukraine’s east;
  15. The country’s leader plans to engage in “restoring industrial and social infrastructure facilities” that were damaged during the crisis in Ukraine.

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