DONETSK. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The political subgroup failed to begin the discussion of the so-called 'Steinmeier formula' during a meeting in Minsk, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) acting Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova said.
"While formally agreeing with the existence of the 'Steinmeier formula', our opponents are not yet aware of their own stance on it and, subsequently, are unable to discuss the specific issues of its implementation. Due to that, today [the political subgroup] failed to begin consideration of the foundation of the political package implementation, the 'Steinmeier formula," Nikonorova's presidential press service cited her as saying.
She said that the Ukrainian representatives keep trying to present the Donbas conflict as an international one and refuse to engage a direct dialogue with the representatives of the self-proclaimed republics.
"The Ukrainian negotiators said that they do not intend to discuss the issues essentially with the republic's representatives because they are not a side of the conflict. Ukraine thus tacitly agreed that its is ready to engage a dialogue with anyone, except representatives of the citizens, the voice of which Kyiv had already ignored and that's what caused this conflict," Nikonorova said.
She said that Ukraine keeps on avoiding all constructive discussions, continuing to ignore its obligations and the need to implement the provisions of the package of measures.
The formula offered by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier stipulates the procedure under which the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada adopts the law on holding elections in the territories of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics first, after which the elections are held in these territories, following which the OSCE draws conclusions whether the elections complied with the European standard, and if they do not comply with the standards, the laws on special status of the Donbas republics adopted by the Verkhovna Rada would not come into effect.