RIA Novosti: Russia says separatist republics ready to restore common space with Ukraine

(RIA Novosti – December 9, 2014) Russia says separatist republics ready to restore common space with Ukraine Statements by leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics are an evidence of their readiness to restore the common economic, humanitarian and political space with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, as quoted by RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) at 0730 gmt on 9 December.

“Judging from public statements of newly-elected leaders of the South East [capitals as received], Donbass is ready for economic cooperation with the Ukrainian side and for restoring a common economic, humanitarian and political space. In response, Kiev has actually began to block the region, in particular, barring it from the common financial system of the country,” Lavrov said.

He said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had suggested that the Ukrainian parliament’s law on a special status for parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions be cancelled. “These steps only strengthen the distrust between the sides, complicating their already difficult dialogue. In this context, I would like to remind you that in Minsk, the representatives of Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk agreed not only about a ceasefire but also about, so to speak, a ‘post-war’ stage of the development of Donbass,” Lavrov said.

Constitutional reform Russia will seek implementation by Kiev of its obligations on a constitutional reform, and this reform should not be cosmetic, Lavrov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti at 0726 gmt on 9 December.

“We are convinced that the goal and outcome of preparing a draft law on amending the Ukrainian constitution should be not a cosmetic retouch of the previous texts but an emergence of a deeply reworked and renewed social contract that would be viewed by the entire polyethnic Ukrainian society as a solid long-term document and a basis of rule of law, providing for equality of the regions and nationalities,” Lavrov said.

“We will work to ensure that this obligation is implemented,” he said.

Poroshenko “main partner”

Moscow views Poroshenko as a main partner in Kiev to find a solution to the conflict in Donbass, Lavrov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti at 0718 gmt on 9 December.

“President Petro Poroshenko is our main partner in Kiev today for looking for a solution to the conflict in the southeast of the country. The peace plan that he put forward and the relevant initiatives by [Russian] President Vladimir Putin laid the foundation for the well-known Minsk agreements, a strict observance of which is a key to a viable settlement of the current crisis,” Lavrov said.

In the upcoming days, a contact group on the settlement of the crisis will consider experts’ plan on pulling troops and hardware back from the line of contact, Lavrov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti at 0722 gmt.