'Steinmeier formula' can be incorporated through amendments to law on Donbas - Foreign Ministry

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry believes that a "Steinmeier formula" should be incorporated into Ukrainian legislation through the introduction of amendments to the law on the peculiarities of local self-governance in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar said this in Ukraine's parliament on Friday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Steinmeier formula provides for the enactment of a special status law after elections. This should be spelled out in the text of the law [on the peculiarities of local self-governance in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions]. That is, there should be a separate law on changes to the existing law, which states the wording when this law comes into force after the elections. Changes to the law are the way to incorporate [the Steinmeier formula] into Ukrainian legislation," Bodnar said.

He added that these changes would be discussed and approved by the Verkhovna Rada.

"For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will simply be involved in working out the technical part of implementing this arrangement [by the Normandy Four countries] into the text," the diplomat said.

According to common agreed conclusions approved at the Normandy Four summit in Paris on December 9, the parties "consider it necessary to incorporate the "Steinmeier formula" into the Ukrainian legislation, in accordance with the version agreed upon within the N4 and the Trilateral Contact Group."

On December 12, the Verkhovna Rada approved amendments to the law on the special order of local self-governance in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to which its validity was extended until December 31, 2020.

On December 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law extending the law on the peculiarities of local self-governance in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for another year.

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