LUHANSK. Nov 27 (Interfax) - If the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada does not extend the Donbas special status law, this will have no effect on the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), LPR head Leonid Pasechnik said.
"The extension of the Donbas special status law is a provision of the Minsk Agreements. Should Ukraine decide to extend it, the move must be coordinated with representatives of the Donbas republics in the Contact Group. This has not been done as of yet," Pasechnik said in a Q&A session with residents of the LPR, Ukraine, and foreign countries in Luhansk on Wednesday.
"If Kyiv fulfills the Agreements after all and extends the special status law, we will be ready to continue the dialogue and fulfilling of the Minsk Agreements," he said.
"In addition to being extended, the law must be formalized in the Ukrainian Constitution so that radicalized elements residing in the Ukrainian territory have no chance to describe the law as unconstitutional and to call for its cancellation. But if Kyiv does not make the deal and does not extend the Donbas special status law, that will have no effect on our life," Pasechnik said.
For now, the Minsk Agreements are the foundation for talks between the Donbas republics and Ukraine, he said. "To my mind, this is the only platform via which the Donbas problem can be resolved peacefully," Pasechnik said.