No Progress on Issue of Donbass Elections - Lavrov

There has been no progress on the issue of holding local elections in Ukraine’s self-proclaimed republics of the southeast (Donbass), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after Normandy Four talks in Paris.

PARIS (Sputnik) – Lavrov also stressed the importance of adopting a law on the special status of Donbas and carrying out constitutional reforms in Ukraine.

"We talked about the elections [in Donbass] as the next step, in the context of all that is necessary for their implementation," Lavrov said, stressing that "on the main issue – the preparation of elections – there has been no progress yet."

France’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said after Normandy Four talks in Paris that local elections in Ukraine’s southeast must be held in the first half of 2016.

According to Lavrov, Normandy Four foreign ministers suggested that Donbas elections should be held in June-July 2016, but no firm consensus was reached on the issue because of the Ukrainian side.

"The suggestion [on holding the elections] was voiced by our German and French colleagues today. We were ready to support it, but the Ukrainian side asked not to insist on that, as a result there was no consensus," Lavrov explained.