BERLIN (Sputnik) — Proposed amendments to the Ukrainian constitution will be an important prerequisite for holding local elections in the Donbass region, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday during his visit to Cuba.
"I welcome the fact that today Verkhovna Rada passed in the first reading by an overwhelming majority a constitutional amendment, aimed at providing special mechanisms for local government implementation in the eastern Ukraine. This is an important prerequisite for holding local elections in the Donbass region on the basis of current Ukrainian legislation," Steinmeier said in a statement by the German Foreign Ministry.
On July 1, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko submitted a draft law to parliament with proposed constitutional changes on decentralization.
On July 13, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the draft constitutional amendments were prepared without any consultation with representatives of the southeast of Ukraine and ignored the interests of Donbass residents, undermining international efforts to bring peace to the region.
