Earlier Leonid Kuchma
stated, that the Steinmeier formula could not bring peace to Donbass since it
was aimed at "putting the squeeze on Ukraine" and "selling it
out".
LUGANSK, October 27.
/TASS/. Remarks by Ukraine’s chief negotiator at the Minsk talks Leonid Kuchma
that the Steinmeier formula is absurd and harmful for Ukraine are total
nonsense, Vladislav Deinego, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk
People’s Republic (LPR), said on Sunday.
"Such escapades
are total nonsense for a serious politician who is responsible for talks on
fulfilling the Minsk agreements, which he had signed," Deinego said,
according to the LuganskInformCenter.
The foreign minister
recalled that the Steinmeier formula’s text had been agreed on at the meeting
of political advisers of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and
Ukraine). Later the document was sent to the Contact Group for settling the
crisis in southeastern Ukraine to be signed by the conflicting sides - Kiev,
Donetsk and Lugansk.
Some three weeks ago,
at the Contact Group’s meeting on October 1 Kuchma confirmed that Ukraine had
agreed on the Steinmeier formula by sending an official letter to Special
Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Martin Sajdik, he
noted.
"Moreover,
several days later Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting in Tokyo
personally thanked Frank-Walter Steinmeier for his formula and for supporting
Ukraine," Deinego said.
On Friday, Kuchma
stated at a meeting with students of Chernigov National University of
Technology that the Steinmeier formula could not bring peace to Donbass since
it was aimed at "putting the squeeze on Ukraine" and "selling it
out." He also rejected the idea of holding elections in Donbass before
Ukraine’s authorities assume control over the border with Russia as demanded by
the Minsk deal. Kuchma ruled out a special status for Donbass stressing that
this would be switching to confederation, which he considered as unacceptable.
Source: ITAR-TASS 27-10-2019
