Russian MP: Kiev’s decentralization-related amendments imitate implementation of the Minsk Agreements

New amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine on the status of Donbass have nothing to do with the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, says Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma Committee for CIS, Eurasian Integration and Compatriots.

“President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko continues imitating implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Another constitutional amendments amid statements that they do not provide a special status to Donbass just mock the Minsk-II,” he said.

Although Poroshenko submitted the draft amendments to the parliament’s consideration twice, Slutsky said, the document has not been coordinated with the representatives of DPR and LPR. “ Neither it has not coordinated with the Contact Group that assigns a high important to OSCE’s role in the conflict settlement,” the deputy said.

Slutsky believes Poroshenko’s policy looks to “make the image of the Kiev authorities, and the president, more positive,” and does not care for the fate of the people in the southeast,” Slutsky said.

He said that “in the course of the bloody civil crisis, thousands of peaceful citizens were killed. Two big parties were banned – the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine – people were killed just because of being Russians or supporting the constructive cooperation with Russia. ” “Many anti-Russian decisions adopted by the Supreme Rada are still effective,” he said.

EADaily reported earlier that a bill of the decentralization-related amendments to the Constitution was published on the website of the Supreme Rada with a note “elaborated”.  The important difference from the first edition dating back  to July 1 is the provision saying that a special law determines the peculiarities of the local self-government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. In the first edition, this provision was included in the transitional provisions of the bill, while the version dating back to July 15 suggests including the provision into the section XV of the transitional provisions of the Constitution. President Poroshenko introduced the bill in the parliament today saying, “it does not provide for a special status to Donbass.”