External Influence Could Bring Kiev to Reason – Russia's Envoy to OSCE

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia will bring the issue of Kiev’s controversial east Ukraine self-administration laws before the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Moscow’s envoy to the organization said.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament decided to postpone giving special status to Ukraine's breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk regions until elections were held in Donbas under Ukrainian law, and declared parts of the regions "occupied" territories.

Russia’s envoy to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin, described the legal initiative as “an end to the process of political settlement in Ukraine,” adding that the matter will be raised at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

“It looks like interference from outside will again be needed to bring Kiev to reason, because all previous assurances of commitment to the Minsk deal given by [President Petro] Poroshenko, including during his recent visit to Berlin, have turned out to be shaky,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Ukrainian parliament's decisions regarding the special status for Donbas were a gross breach of the ceasefire agreements reached in Minsk. Lavrov said he contacted his counterparts in Germany and France regarding the matter and urged them to influence Ukrainian authorities to fulfill the Minsk deal.

Both self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics said that by making unilateral decisions on the status of Donbas regions, Ukrainian authorities have shown that they are unwilling to stick to the previously reached agreements. Donbas authorities said there can be no compromise with Kiev until the measure is lifted.

Granting special status to Ukraine's southeast regions of Donetsk and Luhansk was one of key points of the deal signed by both Kiev authorities and independent supporters in Minsk in February.