LPR Head Notes Breakthrough in Contact Group on Ukrainian Reconciliation
LUHANSK (Sputnik) — The head of eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said some breakthrough was made in the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation on Saturday.
“To put it mildly, there is some breakthrough in the Contact Group. If previously there was complete misunderstanding, an entire wall, we now see some interest [from Kyiv] fueled by guarantor countries,” Plotnitsky said.
Nonetheless, the breakaway republic’s leader observed violations of the ceasefire deal reached in the Belarusian capital of Minsk over a month ago.
“All the deadlines are being violated. The law on the special status [of Luhansk and Donetsk regions] has not been adopted,” Plotnitsky said.
According to the text of the Minsk agreement signed on February 12, the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) had 30 days since the deal took effect to adopt a resolution indicating the special regime status of eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The 13-point peace deal also envisioned Kyiv’s decentralization of power ahead of wider constitutional reform in the country, a ceasefire, which became effective on February 15, and heavy weaponry withdrawal from the line of contact.
The leaders of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have repeatedly urged Kyiv to grant them more autonomy.