MOSCOW. June 21 (Interfax) - Luhansk has accused Kyiv of speculating on humanitarian matters in drawing up legislation on reintegration of Donbas without consulting the self-proclaimed republics.
"The statements by a number of Kyiv officials on some humanitarian prospects of replacing the ATO [antiterrorist operation] with martial law are obviously mere speculations. Martial law has never improved a humanitarian situation. And if you take into consideration the intention to fully replace civilian territorial administration with military bodies, regarding which Ukrainian media have reported, you'll understand that Kyiv is following NATO logic under the guise of some imaginary humanitarian goals," the Luhansk information center quoted Vladislav Deinego, an envoy of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), as saying in a statement.
"By changing the ATO format and replacing it with some martial law on limited territories, the Kyiv authorities are preparing the groundwork for starting open combat activities in Donbas, saying at the same time that the main objective of changing the format is to protect humanitarian rights and reintegrate Donbas," Deinego said.
"In reality, Kyiv's rhetoric on humanitarian rights is just a response to our humanitarian program of reunification of the people of Donbas, which is really working and which numerous people from the territories controlled by Kyiv have enjoyed," he said.
"Ukraine's initiatives of the kind are in fact aimed at blocking the people living in the territories under their control from access to humanitarian opportunities available under our program, without offering anything instead of this except 'good intentions', with which the well-known road is paved," Deinego said.
"Take just the cancellation of elections, which seriously infringes upon civil rights," Deinego said. "And all these initiatives lead to one thing, namely unlimited concentration of power in the hands of the commander-in-chief, who gets the chance to decide on matters of the life and death of the Donbas people through directly subordinating the armed forces and manipulating issues of peace and war," he said.
Kyiv's initiative runs counter to the Minsk Package of Measures, Deinego said.
"The replacement of special status by some new substance and attempts to impose martial law instead of real steps toward a peaceful settlement are absolutely at odds with the Minsk Agreements. Any steps in this direction manifest Ukraine's withdrawal from the Minsk process," Deinego said.