Elections in Donbass. Negotiations are stalled

Ukraine will not hold elections in the uncontrolled areas of Donbass, which Russia insists on.

The long-awaited meeting of the advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Four took place in Berlin. The main topic of the negotiations was the holding of elections in Donbass. Judging by the statements of the participants in the meeting, it was not possible to reach an agreement.

Correspondent.net Understood what awaits Donbass.

Everyone has their own version

At the moment, according to the resolution adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, local elections will not be held on October 25, both on the territory of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Ukraine, and in the uncontrolled ones.

After the meeting in Berlin, Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, announced the agreements that “in the near future the Verkhovna Rada will consider the resolution (on elections), which will correct the resolution that was adopted on July 15 “.

The representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, Andriy Kostin, confirmed Kozak’s words that the Rada will consider the resolution “which corrects the resolution adopted on July 15”.

But the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, claims that such agreements do not exist and are close.

“There were no obligations on the part of Ukraine to review the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada (on local elections). And this is impossible, because we cannot interfere in the activities of the Ukrainian parliament,” he said.

According to Yermak, Ukraine only “informed” the other participants in the meeting about the existence of a resolution, that they want to amend the resolution already adopted on local elections.

“We only informed our colleagues at the Normandy meeting that the deputy of the People’s Servant (Alexander Kachura) registered a resolution on the changes on July 28. And this resolution will soon be sent to the Verkhovna Rada room, where its fate will be decided. “Yermak said.

What is the fault?

The current resolution on local elections, which was approved by the Rada, states that local elections in the occupied territories can only take place after the end of the occupation and the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine, the withdrawal of all illegal armed groups. of the territory of Ukraine and the restoration of border control.

At the same time, there are no such words in the proposed changes to the Rada, it says that local elections in the occupied territories can be held subject to complete disarmament, demilitarization and reintegration in accordance with the standards of the UN and the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe.

According to Kostin, the proposed draft resolution is fully compatible with the Minsk package of measures.

People’s Deputy Kachura says that the changes he now proposed do not even speak of holding elections in uncontrolled territories.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmitry Razumkov said that the people’s deputies do not intend to review the resolution already adopted by parliament on holding local elections. According to Razumkov, this plenary week will not consider changes in the decree on the announcement of local elections.

What will happen next?

The concentration on the issue of the elections means that the parties cannot advance in the negotiations.

“Russia is concentrating exclusively artificially on this resolution to block negotiations if its whims are ignored or, if they are followed, it is pleased to demonstrate the success of its pressure on Kiev. However, there is almost no possibility of adopting such amendments to the electoral resolution, even the Servant of the People faction is not ready to vote for them. Everyone understands that even its adoption would not bring elections in the occupied territory closer, “said Maria Zolkina, analyst at the Democratic Initiatives Fund.

In his opinion, the only way out for Ukraine is a proposal for a complete renewal of the Minsk agreements.