Updated 2:04 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) – Bills granting amnesty to independence supporters and special status to breakaway regions, will be submitted to the president for signing only after being checked by the parliament’s statutory committee, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov said Thursday.
“To avoid any objections, I instructed the statutory committee to check parliamentary procedures during which these documents were adopted. After that, the bills will be sent to the presidential administration,” Turchynov said.
The Ukrainian government and independence supporters of the country's southeast aligned positions on a ceasefire and a number of issues concerning the status of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on September 5 at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, as outlined in the Minsk Protocol.
Following the protocol, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved a law granting special status to parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on September 16. The law introduces self-administration, stipulates that local elections are to be held in the regions on December 7, and grants the right to use Russian or any other language in Ukraine.
On September 19, a memorandum that outlines nine provisions of the September 5 ceasefire implementation was signed in Minsk. It is partly based on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's peace plan, presented in May. The plan envisages amnesty to those who surrender arms and has not committed serious crimes, among other things.
