KIEV, October 14. /TASS/. First deputy chairman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Council of Ministers, Andrey Purgin, on Tuesday described the signing of the law on a special status of Donbass’ certain districts as a step forward on behalf of Kiev.

“I believe that this is a positive event. We are not terrorists and separatists anymore for Ukraine. Now we have the right to our foreign political and economic activity. It is important that the law includes points on restoration of Donbass,” Purgin said.

“The time will show how valuable this step is and where this will lead,” he said.

Earlier, chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Oleksandr Turchynov signed a draft law on special self-rule status to certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The draft law was submitted to the president for signing, the Ukrainian parliament’s website said.

In September the Ukrainian parliament passed a law granting a special self-rule status for certain districts in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A total of 277 lawmakers in the 450-member parliament voted in favor of the legislation, proposed by President Petro Poroshenko. The required minimum of votes to pass a law in Ukraine is 226.

The special status for Donbass is designed for three years, Poroshenko said.

“During this time we will have an opportunity to turn into reality the issues of deep decentralisation which should be also the issue for amending the Constitution,” he said.

The special status law was stipulated by the Minsk agreements reached in early September in the Belarusian capital on the basis of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seven-point plan proposed two days before.