Updated 12:48 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) – A delegation of 24 Ukrainian lawmakers will attend the Wednesday session of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, a senior Russian lawmaker said.
Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the Duma's committee on ex-Soviet states, said the lawmakers are members of the "For Peace and Stability" group in the Ukrainian parliament.
He did not disclose the purpose of their visit or the issues to be discussed.
"For Peace and Stability" was formed in July and includes 32 lawmakers. This group will vote for the bills introducing a special self-administration regime in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as granting amnesty for independence supporters who committed administrative or criminal offenses, parliamentary group member Vladimir Oleinik announced Tuesday.
The parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union simultaneously ratified the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement on Tuesday.
The Verkhovna Rada approved the bill by 355 lawmakers with the required minimum of 226 "yes" votes. The Ukrainian president signed the ratification deal immediately after and told the government to prepare the bill for the agreement's implementation by Wednesday.
The political provisions of the agreement were signed in March, after Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president at the time, was ousted and an interim government came to power. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the economic part of the agreement in June.
