Germany to assess Ukrainian bill on reintegration of Donbas for compliance with Minsk Agreements
The federal government of Germany will evaluate whether bill on the reintegration of the Donbas, as adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on January 18th, complies with the Minsk Agreements, as stated at a press conference in Berlin on Friday, January 19th, by a German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
He emphasized that Minsk is "the framework that was created to seek a peaceful solution [for the conflict in eastern Ukraine], in which the government of Germany also participates. This framework, which is also recognized by Ukraine itself, should remain unchanged,” Seibert noted in a statement released on the website of the German government.
At the same time, he said that the German government has not yet made a final assessment of the bill passed by the Ukrainian parliament. However, he stressed that the context of the conflict in the Donbas is such that, "Ukraine is a victim of aggression that is supported by Russia," which provides arms and other support to the separatists. According to Seibert, it is "undeniable" that Russian forces are also in Ukraine.
On January 18th, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the presidential bill "On the specifics of the state policy on securing the state sovereignty of Ukraine on the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," in which, in particular, Russia was recognized as an aggressor state. However, the Minsk Agreements are not mentioned in the document. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, expressed his conviction that the main signal of the bill on the restoration of sovereignty over the Donbas is the re-integration of the occupied territories of Ukraine by peaceful, political, and diplomatic means.
On the same day, the bill was severely criticized by Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country said that the document threatens a "dangerous escalation" in Ukraine, and that this could prepare Kyiv for a "new war."