KIEV (Sputnik) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has submitted a proposal on constitutional amendments on the special status of the country’s southeastern regions (Donbass) to Ukraine’s parliament (Verkhovna Rada).
According to the Rada website, the draft proposals aim to revise Ukraine’s constitution to include a section on the special status of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Poroshenko first submitted a draft law to the Rada with proposed constitutional changes on decentralization on July 1. However, the bill, approved by Ukraine's constitutional commission in late June, did not envision a special status for Donbass.
Constitutional amendments providing more autonomy to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were stipulated by the February Minsk agreements signed by Kiev and Donbass representatives, along with a ceasefire deal.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the original proposals on amendments to the Ukrainian constitution fail to comply with the Minsk agreements as the draft was put together without consultations with Donbass representatives.
Kiev launched a military operation in Donbass in April 2014. Local residents were against the new coup-installed government and have been asking for more autonomy.
