Poroshenko forced to reaffirm commitment to Donbas special status at Normandy format meeting in Berlin - Russian political pundit
MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - The fact that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's proposal on Donbas's special status was reaffirmed by the participants in a Normandy format summit in Berlin on Wednesday can be considered one of its most important results, Center for Current Policy (CCP) Director Alexei Chesnakov, an expert close to the Kremlin, told Interfax on Thursday.
"Ukraine tried this or that way to revise the agreements reached at last year's Paris summit at the Berlin meeting," Chesnakov said.
The participants in a Normandy format meeting in Paris on October 2, 2015 decided to grant Donbas special status in line with the so-called 'Steinmeier formula', which implies that Donbas shall be invested with special status on a provisional basis on the day of local elections and on a permanent basis immediately after the publication of an OSCE/ODIHR report.
"Poroshenko was prompted yesterday to confirm his commitment to this approach. This is an important outcome of the Berlin summit," Chesnakov said.
Another source close to the negotiations told Interfax that "Poroshenko proposed at yesterday's meeting that the Steinmeier formula be expanded by some reservations not agreed upon with anyone, which would have enabled him never to grant special status to Donbas."
In making his proposal, Poroshenko referred to some domestic political issues in Ukraine. "The Russian delegation's reaction was tough: it demanded that Poroshenko comply with what was approved by everyone a year ago, including by Poroshenko himself, without any distortions or tricks," the source said, adding that Germany and France supported Russia in this regard.
"As a result, it was reaffirmed once again: Donbas will receive special status on a provisional basis immediately and without reservation as early as on the voting day, and on a permanent basis on the day of the publication of an OSCE/ODIHR report," the source said.
