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Chairman: DPR Supreme Council Supports Minsk Memorandum Ceasefire

© RIA Novosti . Evgeny Biyatov / Go to the mediabankDonetsk People's Republic's Supreme Council Chairman Boris Litvinov supports the memorandum on ceasefire.
Donetsk People's Republic's Supreme Council Chairman Boris Litvinov supports the memorandum on ceasefire. - Sputnik International
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The Supreme Council of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) supports the memorandum signed earlier Saturday in Minsk implementing the ceasefire, chairman of the council Boris Litvinov told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

Updated 12:56 p.m. Moscow Time

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Supreme Council of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) supports the memorandum signed earlier Saturday in Minsk implementing the ceasefire, chairman of the council Boris Litvinov told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

"The Supreme Council of the DPR support the ceasefire memorandum signed at a meeting of the contact group in Minsk on September 20," said Litvinov.

During a second round of talks on the situation in Ukraine on Friday, both Kiev authorities and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine have agreed upon a general ceasefire, the establishment of a buffer zone, withdrawal of heavy weapons away from the contact line on both sides, and deployment of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission.

The OSCE shall be deployed in the ceasefire zone within 24 hours of the memorandum's approval. The preferred plan is to divide the zone into sectors, the borders of which are currently pending negotiations. The OSCE will oversee the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups, military equipment, fighters, and mercenaries from the territory as well.

The Minsk protocol discussed and signed by the trilateral Contact Group in the Belarusian capital on September 5, implemented a ceasefire that same day while suggesting, among other things, that Ukraine adopt a law on granting special status to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and carry out early elections of the heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics.

On September 16, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved of the law submitted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko granting a special status to parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the law, local elections will be held on December 7 in the regions and guarantees the right to use Russian in addition to any other language in Ukraine.

The five-month conflict has already killed over 3,000 people and wreaked havoc on Ukraine's economy, also leading to the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

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