KIEV, September 14. /ITAR-TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has noted the importance of passing the laws on special status of several districts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions and on amnesty, the press service of the Ukrainian president said on Sunday, citing President Petrо Poroshenko’s telephone conversation with the German Chancellor.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) will vote these bills next week.
“Petrо Poroshenko and Angela Merkel also discusses possible prolongation of international negotiations in the Norman format (France, Germany, Ukraine, Russia - ITAR-TASS),” the press service said.
“The sides expressed concern over reports of violations of the ceasefire regime in Donbass and agreed to exert further efforts to settle the situation peacefully.”
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that Moscow considered a future status of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics was the subject of talks between Kiev and Donbass. He said the Minsk protocol
He recalled that the Minsk protocol declared these areas of Ukraine as parties to the conflict and “this is an important statement in itself.”
“As for identifying their status, including future status, it is a subject matter of negotiations between Kiev and Donbass, which is stated in the protocol,” the diplomat said. “We do hope that Ukrainians will have a chance to determine the status of their territories on their own.