20.09 Donetsk Republic Head Calls Ukrainian Special Status Law Independence Recognition

MINSK, September 20 (RIA Novosti) – Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko has announced that the law on special status of the self-proclaimed republics means recognition by Ukrainian authorities of their independence.

"The law on special status is already the recognition of our independence," Zakharchenko stressed, following the meeting of the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarussian capital Minsk earlier on Friday.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved a law on special status of Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics, submitted earlier by President Petro Poroshenko. The law among other things states that local elections are to be held in the regions on December 7.

Zakharchenko, however, said on Saturday that no elections, announced previously by the Ukrainian authorities, would be held on the DPR territory.