BERLIN, November 10. /TASS/. The law on Donbas special status should enter into force on the next day after holding local election in the region, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a conference on foreign policy in Berlin on Tuesday.
Steinmeier said the "Normandy Quartet" agreed that "on the day of election in Ukraine’s east the law on special status will enter into force on preliminary basis." If OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) observers confirm that election was held without violations, the law "will enter into force on permanent basis," the foreign minister added.
Law on Donbas special status is envisaged by the Minsk accords signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The Minsk accords also envisage ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.
- Lavrov: Kiev needs to implement Minsk deal to restore full control over border
- Poroshenko condemns DPR and LPR plans to hold elections in 2016
- Inhumane blockade in Donbas persists — Russia’s OSCE ambassador
- DPR, LPR postpone elections to give Kiev chance to implement Minsk deals — DPR envoy
- German government welcomes decision on Donbas election postponement
- Kiev not considering amnesty, special status for Donbas — foreign minister
- Kiev rejects all attempts to adopt law on amnesty, special status of Donbas