Foreign Ministers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics Natalia Nikonorova and Vladislav Deynego expect that Kiev will begin to agree on the Steinmeier Formula for granting Donbass a special status at a meeting of the contact group on October 1 in Minsk.
“We hope that during the upcoming meeting in Minsk, Kiev will realize the consequences of failure to fulfill its obligations to the countries that are the guarantors of the Minsk agreements and will begin to agree on Steinmeier’s formula as a mechanism for implementing the foundation of the entire peace process – enacting the law on the special status of Donbass”, – stated Nikonorova.
According to her, the text of the mechanism proposed by Steinmeier refers to the procedure for the entry into force of the law on the special status of Donbass.
“In order to start the discussion on the elections, the Ukrainian authorities need to determine the procedure for enacting the law on special status,” the Foreign Minister of the DPR stated.
Nikonorova noted that the transfer of control over the border is the final stage in the settlement of the conflict, which can only be started after the “full implementation of all political points of this document”.
Deynego also expressed hope that the representative of Kiev in the contact group Leonid Kuchma will sign the Steinmeier Formula and thereby demonstrate the city’s focus on a peaceful settlement.
According to him, this is the only negotiation format that allows to coordinate all aspects of the political settlement with Ukraine.
On September 18, the representative of Kiev at the meeting of the contact group refused to sign the Steinmeier Formula.
Ukrainian foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko explained the disagreement of the Steinmeier Formula by a technical misunderstanding that arose in the trilateral contact group itself.