RIA Novosti: Donetsk, Luhansk Say Preparing New Peace Plan

MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) – The self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk announced Thursday they had prepared a new version of a peace plan for the upcoming reconciliation talks after Kiev withdrew its bill on special status for the regions.

“This [a new version] is needed because Ukraine has unilaterally annulled [the previous version] by recalling its bills on special status of Donbas and on amnesty,” Donetsk First Deputy Prime MinisterAndrei Purgin and Luhansk People’s Council chairman Alexei Karyakin said.

The date of the talks in Minsk, also involving the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Russia, is yet to be set, but it will take place no earlier than after two weeks.

“During this period, the people’s republics will pick up their permanent representatives to the talks. The heads of the republics and parliaments will not take part in the Minsk consultations,” the statement says.

The law on self-administration in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, also known as the Donbas, was passed by the Ukrainian parliament on September 16, following the September 5 ceasefire agreement between Kiev and independence supporters of eastern Ukraine.

According to the deal, Kiev was to ensure early local elections in the two breakaway regions.

On Sunday, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics held elections for the heads of local governments and representatives of legislative bodies.

Following the vote, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council backed the Ukrainian leader’s initiative to abolish the law granting special status to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.