President: ‘Steinmeier formula’ for Crimea doesn’t exist

"There is no such formula now. It is a very complicated story. You know that, unfortunately, Ukraine will not cope with this on its own. The conditions put forward by our international partners are needed, we need to have an even stronger army. We respect our military... but, frankly speaking, we need to be very powerful so that not only our diplomacy works, so that we have a really high-level army," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in the commentary to the Crimea.Realities portal on Wednesday when asked whether the “Steinmeier formula” for Crimea exists.

As a reminder, a succession of steps to resolve the conflict in Donbas, the so-called "Steinmeier formula", was proposed by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the then German Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. According to his proposals, Donbas should be given a "special status" (the law on the peculiarities of local self-government in the certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions temporarily comes into force) on the day of holding elections in the occupied territories on a temporary basis. After the OSCE certifies the lawfulness of such elections, the law enters into force on a permanent basis.

The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea has been occupied by Russia since February-March 2014.

Most world countries do not recognize the annexation of Crimea. The United States, the European Union, Canada, Ukraine and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over occupation and annexation of the peninsula.

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