DONETSK. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Kyiv should negotiate primarily with the self-proclaimed republics if it wants to restore peace in the Donbas region, according to Natalia Nikonorova, the foreign minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
"If Kyiv really wants to renew peace, it should talk first of all to the republics rather than wait for a 'Normandy-format' meeting for the yet another unsuccessful attempt to get the Minsk Agreements reviewed," Nikonorova told journalists on Tuesday.
The main result of the Normandy Four summit was "the new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, formally confirming the obligation to implement the Minsk Agreements as they were signed and approved by the guarantor nations and the UN Security Council, the minister said.
The four leaders "unanimously expressed the need for a ceasefire in Donbas, but according to the Ukrainian president, he does not know yet how to achieve this," Nikonorova said.
"This raises questions about his competence and political will as the head of state and commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, we have been talking for half a year now about the need to observe the additional ceasefire monitoring measures, and Kyiv is still seriously neglecting these.
"Once again we note that no new decisions are required. What is required of the president of Ukraine is to honor the obligations that his country - and, after yesterday's meeting, he personally - assumed."
An extremely important point is the situation around implementation of the political clauses of the Package of Measures, which form the foundation of the entire peace process, Nikonorova said. "The Ukrainian president undertook to extend the validity of the law on a special status for Donbas and consult with us on the legal aspects of making this status permanent.
"This is not only about thoroughly drafting this law and amending it in light of the Steinmeier formula. This is also about agreeing with us on every resulting statutory act in every area and entrenching the special status in the Ukrainian constitution. We urge the Ukrainian leadership to take their obligations with utmost seriousness and finally start making steps that are needed towards a political settlement," the DPR foreign minister said.