DPR envoy to the talks in Minsk, Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalya Nikonorova commented on Leonid Kuchma’s rhetoric about Steinmeier’s formula.
“Some statements from Ukrainian representatives give the impression that the Ukrainian leadership regards the Complex of Measures not as a binding document approved by the international community in the person of the UN Security Council, but as a field for self-willed reading and authorial interpretations on the media.
What is particularly striking is that the representatives of Ukraine are stubbornly trying to refuse even the part of their commitments that is our cession in fact. We remind that Steinmeier’s formula emerged as a compromise solution to the situation created by Ukraine’s failure to fulfil its commitments under the Complex of Measures literally in their original form. The representatives of the Republics agreed to this compromise mechanism only for the sake of unblocking the implementation of political items, primarily to enact the law on the special status of Donbass, which is the basis, the logical center and the foundation of the entire process of peaceful settlement.
We once again remind the Ukrainian side that neither tricks, verbal manipulation nor calls for help addressed to third countries will allow them to opt out of the implementation of the agreements reached in Minsk. Instead of making clumsy attempts to alter the concept of the Minsk Agreements, we recommend that Kiev finally begin to work on the implementation of Steinmeier’s formula into Ukrainian legislation in dialog mode with us,” the head of the foreign-policy establishment stated.