KIEV, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian parliament will not restart discussions on holding a decentralization referendum alongside presidential elections on May 25, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Wednesday.
“I think we won’t return to this issue,” said Andriy Senchenko, a lawmaker from the Batkivshchyna faction.
The Ukrainian government proposed a bill last week to hold a nationwide referendum on decentralization simultaneously with the presidential election.
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed as unrealistic and cynical Kiev’s plans to hold such a referendum amid the ongoing special operation against federalists in southeastern Ukraine.
Decentralization of power has already been progressed in Ukraine in a de facto manner. The country’s mainly Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the country’s interim government and declared independence from Kiev on Monday with about 90 percent of voters showing support for the move.
Early presidential elections were scheduled on May 25 in Ukraine after elected president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted late February following the so-called Euromaidan mass rallies in Kiev.
Moscow has repeatedly expressed doubts about the legitimacy of upcoming presidential elections saying they violate international laws and urging Kiev to take into consideration the demands of all citizens of Ukraine.
