DONETSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2019) Draft amendments to the Ukrainian constitution proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy contradict the Package of Measures to settle the conflict in Donbas, representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in the Trilateral Contact Group, DPR Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova said Monday.
Earlier, Zelenskyy registered in the Verkhovna Rada the bill "On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the decentralization of power)." The document envisioned changing the administrative and territorial structure of the country and introducing the institution of the prefect. The text did not say anything about the special status of Donbas.
"The draft constitutional amendments submitted by the Ukrainian president to the Verkhovna Rada categorically contradict the Package of Measures and the entire essence of peace negotiations," Nikonorova said in a statement.
She explained that the draft had not been agreed with representatives of the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), although in the communiqué following the meeting of the Normandy Four in Paris, Zelenskyy had confirmed his commitment to agree with the republics all legal aspects of the special status, including the constitutional reform.
Nikonorova also said that the published draft amendments contained no words on giving certain areas the special status, though the sense of the changes to the constitution mentioned in the Package of Measures was in the consolidation of the special status on a constant basis.
"Third, the draft submitted by Zelenskyy is actually an attempt to usurp power by introducing the concept of the president's representatives - the so-called prefects who have the authority to suspend any regulatory acts adopted by local councils," she said.
