Kiev blocking work of contact group on elections in Donetsk and Lugansk

The Ukrainian delegation has failed to appear at the today’s meeting of the political sub-group of the Contact Group, representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic at the talks in Minsk Denis Pushilin says.

According to Pushilin, a significant part of the negotiation was supposed to take place: they were expected to discuss a special draft law on local elections in Donbass.

“It looks like Ukraine does not support aspirations of both the republics and Coordinator [Pierre] Maurel to implement the set of measures under the Minsk Agreements as soon and effective as possible. Our partners in the talks seem to have their own view of the processes that does not correspond with position either of the OSCE or the republics,” Pushilin continues. He adds that the agenda included statements making impossible participation of Ukrainian political parties in the local elections in Donbass, as well as the mechanism of participation of temporarily displaced persons and a draft law on amnesty.

Pushilin has already announced that the parties have no mutual understanding on the elections in Donbass. This time, he stresses that “everything that Rada is supposed to pass regarding the elections must be agreed upon within the sub-group.”

In his turn, representative of the Lugansk People's Republic Vladislav Deinego says that the contact group will discuss possible amendments to the Ukrainian constitution at a meeting on November 24. “Kiev needs to comprehend that all amendments to the constitution must be coordinated with LPR and DPR, the things that has not happened before,” the representative stressed.