Suggestion on Ukraine constitution amendments still unanswered, says LPR’s head

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. There has been no reaction from Kiev as of yet to offers from the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics on amendments of the Ukrainian constitution in line with the Minsk agreements, LPR leader Igor Plotnitsky told a news conference on Wednesday.

On May 13, representatives of the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine’s southeast referred to Kiev draft amendments to the constitution. They envisage an additional section in the constitution, fixing a special legal status of certain areas of Donbas.

"There has been no reply as of yet as to constitutional amendments. It always takes them long to think," Plotnitsky said, noting that the Luhansk People’s Republic was "trying to peacefully" defend its right to a special status.

"In order to change the status of this or that part of the region, a repeat referendum is needed. The territory where the referendum was held is indivisible," he said referring to the referendum on self-determination in 2014.

"It has been and it is our territory, and we are trying to free this land peacefully, that is exactly what we are doing now," he said. "We don’t need that part of Ukraine, we want to have what belongs to us," Plotnitsky said.

On May 11, 2014, the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics held referendums on self-determination. The vote was attended by 75% of citizens in the Donetsk region and 81% of citizens in the Luhansk region, of whom almost 90% called for the republics’ sovereignty.

Regular talks of the participants of the Trilateral Contact Group on east Ukrainian settlement comprising representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were held in the Belarusian capital Minsk on February 10-12. Talks of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) leaders on the Ukrainian issue also ended February 12 in Minsk.

A 13-point Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements was adopted at the February talks.

The package in particular included an agreement on cessation of fire from February 15, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement of the situation in Ukraine, including enforcement of a special self-rule status for certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.