According to surveys,
about 43% of DPR and LPR residents favor an autonomy within Ukraine, while
nearly the same number of respondents want full independence.
KIEV, August 26.
/TASS/. Vesting the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk
(DPR and LPR) with broad autonomy within Ukraine can be a possible compromise
for settling the Ukrainian crisis, said Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of the public
movement "Ukrainian Choice - People’s Right."
"We should take
the path of finding a compromise, and I see this compromise in granting them
autonomy," he said.
Medvedchuk said that
according to surveys, about 43% of DPR and LPR residents favor an autonomy
within Ukraine, while nearly the same number of respondents want the region to
become fully independent from Kiev.
"Where there is
43%, there can be 51 or 52%, and we should work in this direction," he
said, urging the Ukrainian government to engage in direct talks with the
leadership of the self-proclaimed republics.
In this context, he
said he disagreed with Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s statement
that the Minsk agreements on Ukrainian reconciliation were "dead, and we
should deal with it."
The politician added
that although the Minsk agreements are far from being implemented, there is no
alternative to them so far.
Prisoner swap
Medvedchuk said the
prisoner swap between the Kiev government and the self-proclaimed republics of
Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine should be held only under the
all-for-all formula.
"My stance - and
not only mine - is that Minsk agreement stipulate the all-for-all swap.
Although the Minsk agreements were [signed] long ago, Normandy Four leaders
have signed an agreement on March 29, 2018, intended to optimize and boost the
implementation of the Minsk deal. The last provision of this document calls on
to continue successful exchanges that took place on December 27, 2017, under
the all-for-all principle," he said.
He stressed that the
document was signed by all leaders of the Normandy Four nations, including
Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.
"We need to take
the path of compromise, the path of direct dialogue. We must bring those people
back home, at all costs. But the cost is known - mutual release [of
prisoners]," the Ukrainian politician added.
Source: ITAR-TASS
26-08-2018
