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Ukraine’s president suggests Verkhovna Rada should prolong Donbass special status

Poroshenko has introduced to Verkhovna Rada the draft law "on establishment of conditions for peace settlement in separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions"

© AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

KIEV, October 4. /TASS/. Ukraine’s President Pyotr Poroshenko has introduced to Verkhovna Rada the draft law "On establishment of conditions for peace settlement in separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions" that prolongs the region’s special status for one year, a document published on the parliament’s website on Wednesday states.

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Ukraine’s MP says there will be no special status for Donbass

"The special order of local self-governance in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions is imposed on a temporary basis, for a term that will expire one year after the day of enactment of Ukraine’s law ‘On establishment of necessary conditions for peace settlement in separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,’" the draft law says.

The draft law stipulates introduction of a corresponding amendment to Article 1 of the law "On the special order of local self-governance in separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions" (the law on the Donbass special status) that was adopted on September 16, 2014, and that expires on October 18, 2017.

According to the draft law, extension of the special status is chiefly aimed at establishment of "necessary conditions to deploy UN peacekeeping operations in separate areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions."

The draft law has an "urgent" status and is to be studied by the parliamentary committees and Verkhovna Rada members as a matter of priority.

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