WARSAW, February 2. /TASS/: Ukrainian authorities rule out providing special status and veto power to Donbass, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in an interview for Rzeczpospolita, published Wednesday.
"No Ukrainian region will have a right power for national state decisions. This is set in stone! There will be no special status, as Russia imagines it, no voting power," he said.
"We are carrying out a very deep de-centralization reform, and we are ready to work on the implementation of the Minsk agreements. But the Minsk Agreements begin with security issues. The political part is in second place. So, everyone must first focus on security," the Minister added.
The peaceful settlement in Donbass is based on the Minsk Agreements, which imply ceasefire, withdrawal of forces, amnesty, restoration of economic ties, and a dialogue with representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) on a deep constitutional reform, which must result in a de-centralization with a special status provided to certain parts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine.
However, the negotiations process effectively stalled because of Ukraine’s refusal to implement the political clauses of the Minsk Agreements. In particular, Kiev rejects a direct dialogue with DPR and LPR, opposes setting the special status of the region in the Constitution, and demands that the Donbass part of the border with Russia is transferred under Kiev’s control before implementing the political clauses, despite the logic of the Minsk Agreement being in reverse.
