Putin on Donbas: Implement Minsk or Suffer Shooting

According to the Russian president, in order to achieve an effective ceasefire in Donbas, Ukraine needs to decentralize its regions and pass the Law on the Special Status of Donbas, as well as grant amnesty to militants, as stipulated by the Minsk Agreements.

During a joint press conference with Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister of Greece, Putin said it was wrong to delay political change under the pretext that someone was shooting. He elaborated that if the changes were not made on a political level, there would always be someone who would shoot and someone who would return fire.

The first draft on the law that introduced changes to the Constitution in regard to decentralization was passed by the Verkhovna Rada on August 31, 2015. The draft has been forwarded to the Constitutional Court for evaluation.

The G7 countries supported maintaining sanctions against Russia earlier until the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented and even threatened harsher sanctions if Kremlin fails to comply.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda