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Verkhovna Rada speaker refuses to visit Donbas to discuss Ukraine’s constitution

The Ukrainian parliament's speaker says he will with great pleasure accept an invitation from the new authorities after local elections and go to any settlement in Donbas
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman
© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

KIEV, March 10. /TASS/. Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman will not go to Donbas to discuss the conditions of ceasefire agreements despite invitations by the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the speaker said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"After local elections, I will accept an invitation from the new authorities with great pleasure and go to any settlement in Donbas," Groysman said in response to a journalist’s question on whether he is going to visit Donbas at the DPR and LPR leaders’ invitation.

"The election [in Donbas] must be free, recognized by Ukraine and international community," Groysman said.

Earlier, chairman of the DPR people’s council Andrey Purgin invited Groysman to visit Donetsk to discuss amendments to Ukraine’s constitution. "We invite you and members of your commission [Groysman was appointed as head of the Ukrainian Constitutional Commission] to visit Donetsk to discuss cooperation between the Verkhovna Rada and DPR people’s council on the following issues of fulfilling decisions of ‘the Normandy format’ and Minsk Contact Group," Purgin’s letter said.