Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine on the Elections in Occupied Donbas: Border Control First

Elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions can take place only after Ukraine gains control of its border with Russia, Oleksii Reznikov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories, deputy of the Head of delegation in the Minsk trilateral contact group said during Kyiv Security Forum online discussion organized in partnership with Chatham House.

He reminded that during the Normandy Format Summit in Paris, the Ukrainian leadership stated that "there can be no elections as the final political response until the Ukrainian government takes control of the border between Ukraine and Russia."

Vice Prime Minister also assured that no changes would be made to the Constitution regarding the special status of Donbas.

"These are the red lines, which the official delegation of Ukraine, the official Ukraine follows by itself. And this fundamentally changes our attitude to Minsk, and we talk and declare it. And there can be no conversation about changing this approach,” Oleksii Reznikov emphasized.

Kyiv Security Forum is Ukraine’s foremost platform for high-level international discussion about peace and security. Kyiv Security Forum was founded by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007.