Moscow hopes Poroshenko submitting new constitution to Rada not meaning new ultimatum - Lavrov
MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax) - It is hoped that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko submitting amendments to the Constitution will not turn out to be an ultimatum in regard to southeastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"I hope that the statement of President Poroshenko where he submits a new variant of the Constitution to the Verkhovna Rada to consider and simultaneously submits it to the Council of Europe for assessing by the so-called Venice Commission does not mean yet another proposal based on the principle 'agree, or will do otherwise' and that it is not yet another ultimatum," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow on Friday.
"I will remind everyone that the Geneva statement of April 17, which was passed by the foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, Ukraine and EU high representative, stipulates that the constitution process should be inclusive - with the participation of all parties - it should be transparent and accountable, it should begin immediately with the participation of all political forces and all regions of Ukraine. This has not been done," Lavrov said.
"The section, related to constitutional reform and to dialogue of all regions, is stipulated explicitly and clearly. For now it turns out that during the time, which passed since April 17, no immediate steps to start dialogue on constitutional reform issues with the participation of all regions have been taken. And instead of this, the reform is completed on paper and is submitted to the Verkhovna Rada to consider," Lavrov said.
It would be more constructive to accord the draft of amendments within Ukraine, the minister said.
"The main important thing is that southeastern Ukraine should understand how much their interests are taken into account. After all, it would be optimal to take the opposite sequence - first, to create some constitutional processes and accord some variants of expanding regional powers, whatever you call - federalization, de-centralization. The essence is important, not the tag. And only then probably to present a final draft to international the community, Venice Commission and so on," Lavrov said.
"The situation is very fragile and it still has a huge number of risks and dangers. I hope that the declaration on extending a truce for 72 hours and the contacts - which should continue virtually these hours and days between representatives of Kyiv and representatives of the southeast under the mediation of Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - will lead to more stable agreements and to creating more stable settlement mechanisms," the minister said.
"But firstly, not only settlement but respectful and equal dialogue, which will allow us to take into account the interest of the citizens, who live in southeast and want that their rights are ensured in Ukraine," Lavrov said.
