DONETSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) The representatives of Kiev resorted to the language of ultimatums during the meeting of the political subgroup at the Minsk talks in a bid to hinder the settlement of such issues as amnesty and the special status for Donbas region, the acting foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the republic's representative in the subgroup said Wednesday.
The meeting took place on August 21-22 in the Belarusian capital.
�The representatives of Kiev continue to treat the Minsk talks as an absolutely formal process, reading out identical texts over and over. Moreover, in a bid to hinder the resolution of the outstanding problems, Ukraines representatives started using the language of ultimatums, claiming that the discussion of political issues will begin only once certain conditions are met,� Natalia Nikonorova said.�
According to Nikonorova, Kiev has not outlined its official stance on amnesty and the "Steinmeier formula."
�The two-day meeting of the political subgroup in Minsk did not result in success. Like last year, Ukraine refuses to provide an answer on the prolongation of the law on the special status of Donbas, which expires in less than two months,� Nikonorova concluded.
The representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic (LPR) in the political subgroup at the Minsk talks, Rodion Miroshnik, in a comment to Sputnik, similarly expressed his dissatisfaction with Kievs refusal to enshrine the �Steinmeier formula� in Ukrainian legislation.
The "Steinmeier formula" was proposed in October 2015 by then German Foreign Minister and incumbent President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The formula envisages a special status for Donbas region and its temporary introduction during the local elections under the oversight of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). This process would then allow a law on Donbas' special status to take full effect.
