Donbass Introduces Special Regime of Self-Governance, to Hold Local Elections

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) will introduce a special regime of self-governance on its territory and plan holding local elections on October 18.

This was announced by DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko in a statement on Thursday, TASS news agency reports.

Zakharchenko said that the unilateral move of the Ukrainian government to adopt amendments to the country's constitution signified that "the Kiev regime has de facto exited the Minsk peace process".

According to its prime minister, under the present circumstances the DPR had to start implementing the Minsk agreements itself in order to save them without waiting for Kiev to "come to its senses".

This comes in response to the recent announcement of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that a special status for Donbass will not be enshrined in the proposed constitutional amendments.

Zakharchenko stated that some of the conditions for declaring the special regime of self-governance were provided in the Ukrainian law on "Donbass special status" and in the draft amendments to the Ukrainian constitution.

The local elections were in accordance with Articles 4 and 12 of the Package of measures on implementing the Minsk accords.

The elections will be held in compliance with appropriate OSCE standards under monitoring of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Zakharchenko expressed confidence that these measures will not only maintain the Minsk peace process, but also lead to full ceasefire in Donbass and political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.