The head of the DPR People's Council and the head of the DPR delegation at the negotiations in Minsk, Denis Pushilin has issued a statement in which he emphasized that, without the adoption by Kiev of the law on the special status (i.e. the status of the so-called "individual regions of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions" as Kiev calls the Donetsk and Lugansk republics), a political settlement in Donbass is impossible.
What is behind this statement?
On the eve of a possible vote in the Verkhovnaya Rada for the "Minsk bills" (the law on elections to the DPR and LPR, amnesty, decentralization) Donetsk wants to warn Kiev so that the latter, firstly, not forget to agree with the Republics, as required by the Minsk-2, these same laws, and, secondly, not forget the to pass, within the «Minsk Complex of measures», the law about the special status, as agreed with the DPR and LPR.
If there is no such agreement, then Donetsk and Lugansk will never recognize these laws as the way of their adoption contradicts the Minsk-2.
The Minsk-2 also will not be fulfilled unless there is a law on the special status.
Kerry recently visited Kiev where he held negotiations with Poroshenko.
The briefing transcript released by the State Department shows that «a draft law on elections in Donbass is ready and has been handed over to the negotiators; in addition, there have been developed a number of requirements to hold an amnesty in Donbass».
Earlier, Poroshenko’s administration wriggled out of answering the question whether such a bill was being developed at their instructions or not. Talks on this subject had been circulating for a long time. And Kerry confirmed that the draft law was developed.
However, neither Pushilin, nor the LPR representatives or the Trilateral contact group have not heard anything about these bills, and nothing has been passed to them.
The deadline is approaching, however.
By the way, the Ukrainian nationalists in the Parliament are unhappy, too. They argue that Poroshenko is negotiating with the Americans behind the scenes, hoping to "bend" the Parliament in order to ensure the effective vote.
One way or another, July 14 is the last day of session of the Parliament before its leaving for the summer vacations. If the «Minsk» laws agreed with the DPR and LPR are not adopted before this day, it means that Kiev has disrupted the elections in Donbass this autumn, and the Minsk-2 implementation has been transferred to 2017.
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