Russia urges Kiev government to implement Minsk agreements

Russia has called on the Ukrainian authorities to stop creating semblance of a political settlement and start implementing the Minsk-2 agreement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in connection with Ukraine’s constitutional reform.

“The Russian side is concerned with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and problems related to its settlement. Kiev has its own and extremely selective interpretation of the Minsk-2 agreements adopted on February 12, 2015,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“An attempt to include a provision on peculiarities of local self-government in separate districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the list of constitutional amendments to the Interim provisions and present it as a kind of implementation by the Kiev authorities of their Minsk commitments is just an imitation which should not mislead anybody,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“A statement which Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko made at Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) on July 16, 2015 proves just said. He said the draft of constitutional amendments did not provide for any special status for Donbas,” the ministry explained.

“We are urging the Ukrainian side to stop creating semblance of a political settlement and meticulously follow the letter and spirit of Minsk-2,” the ministry’s statement said.
Moscow hopes that western partners will persuade the Ukrainian authorities to start a real national dialogue in the country instead of encouraging Kiev’s irresponsible policy.

“A draft of amendments to Ukraine’s constitution in part of power decentralization which was recently submitted to Verkhovna Rada had been prepared without participation of the real representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Moreover, it takes no account of the real interests of southeast Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign Ministry went on to say.

“This document has got nothing to do with the Minsk agreements, which clearly outlines the tasks of guaranteeing a permanent special status to Donbass and decentralizing power in accordance with the list enumerated in detail in point 11 of the Minsk package of measures (Minsk-2),” the ministry went on to say.

“The Kiev-style decentralization is largely dictated by immediate political considerations and can become a small coin in the ongoing power struggle in Ukraine at any time,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“Besides, such exercises in political demagoguery are deluding the Ukrainian and international public,” the ministry said noting that Ukraine urgently needed a real constitutional reform which should eventually produce a widely discussed public agreement, which the multi-ethnic Ukrainian society will regard as solid and reliable and which will guarantee the equality of regions and nationalities in a long-term perspective.

“Without that, Ukraine will be unable to solve the urgent tasks of overcoming the current grave crisis,” the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.