Interfax: DPR accuses Kyiv of imitating peace process

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) – The administration of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) believes that Kyiv is only imitating peaceful intentions on Donbas and is actually trying to disrupt the realization of the Minsk agreements.

Andrei Purgin speaker of the DPR People’s Council, told Interfax the amendments to the law on the special status of Donbas submitted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko do not contain a list of the areas of Donbas that are granted special status as the set of measures signed in Minsk in February requires.

“The Verkhovna Rada meeting has begun. But what is happening is a show. The thing is that [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko simultaneously submits a mutually exclusive decree and amendments to the law on the special status of Donbas. That is, we have a situation when the coalition in the Rada won’t want to vote for the document that eventually won’t be in line with the Minsk agreements – and that will allegedly be the most what the authorities can get from the Rada,” Purgin said.

Purgin said these actions constitute “imitation of the peace process for Western viewers, who don’t really go very deeply into the details of what is happening.”

“They are creating an illusion of a peace process to give the West the impression of active peace activities that are allegedly conducted by the Ukrainian authorities: they want to make people think that they are trying, but the peace initiatives cannot be implemented without the Verkhovna Rada approval, there is no consensus, and it cannot be pressured,” Purgin said.

The DPR also finds the submission of amendments to the law on the special status of Donbas a major breach of the Minsk agreements.

“The submitted amendments envisage a whole range of issues that are totally unrelated to the implementation of the law on special status and even contradict it. Among other things, it establishes conditions for elections unilaterally without consultations with us. At the same time, all they had to do to submit to the Rada for approval a list of the areas where a special status will be introduced. It would make it possible to immediately begin dialogue on economic issues and lift the blockade,” Purgin said.

Purgin said that these actions by Kyiv “essentially invalidate the law on special status.” The DPR is unhappy about Kyiv’s refusal to discuss the political part of the set of measures with the self-proclaimed republic.

“The Minsk agreements envisage compulsory consultations with us on political issues. However, it’s not happening, which is a major breach of the peace plan,” he said.