Kiev agrees to grant Donetsk and Lugansk the special status after the elections are held there in accordance with Ukrainian law – Yatsenyuk

Ukraine is ready to grant Donetsk and Lugansk the special status, but only after elections have been held there in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and International law, stressed Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk.

In his interview to The Financial Times Yatsenyuk reminded that the Minsk agreement contains the paragraph in regard to free and just local elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on the basis of Ukrainian law.

According to him, the appropriate foundation should be established for the holding of such free and just elections. “Hence we applied to the ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE), asking it to determine whether the current conditions in Donetsk and Lugansk comply with the standards of the OSCE and ODIHR. Thus, we are ready to carry out free and just elections. nevertheless, there is no chance of holding such elections when a Russian gun is pointed at us”, – Yatsenyuk claimed.

“We will hold the elections and the new, legal government will receive the special status. Otherwise we cannot grant this special status to the terrorists. We want to talk to the legally elected officials from Donetsk and Lugansk”, – added the PM, who gained power as a result of an illegal coup.

In particular, according to him, the key condition is the ceasefire. “I always say: listen, if this is a ceasefire, then explain to me, what does it mean? We lost about 90 Ukrainian troopers after the establishment of the ceasefire regime, and more than 400 were injured”, – the PM said.

Perhaps, the Prime-Minister should have asked the Command of Ukrainian Army why they are constantly shelling the territory of the DPR and LPR and sending covert groups there so that People’s Militia has to rebuff their attacks.

The next step, Yatsenyuk went on, is the withdrawal of heavy armaments. “Do you know, what they have done? They pulled it back to the kindergartens, garages and supermarkets” , – the PM said, having forgotten to coordinate his data with the OSCE observers, who had repeatedly stated that it was Ukrainian Army that failed to withdraw the heavy armaments.

“And the issue of border control remains. We realize that Russia is not eager to implement this principal part of the Minsk Agreement,” – Yatsenyuk summed up.

Thus, Kiev keeps on existing in its own parallel reality, which is a shame and a disgrace.