Kazakh leader: Rada holds back Poroshenko from accepting Donbass status

SOCHI. KAZINFORM - Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) will not allow President Pyotr Poroshenko to accept the status of the war-torn Donbass region, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev claimed at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Poroshenko recently told me that he had no majority in Rada and thus could not accept the status of the Donbass region," he said. "I believe that (Poroshenko) would be able to find compromises."

A TASS correspondent reported from Astana on July 1 that the Ukrainian president asked Kazakh President Nazarbayev to act as a mediator in defusing the standoff in Ukraine's southeast enclave. Kazakhstan's presidential press service stated that "Poroshenko requested Nazarbayev to push ahead with his mediation efforts to resolve the crisis."

However, the Ukrainian president's press office made no mention of Poroshenko's request in its report on the telephone conversation between the two leaders.

Kazinform refers to TASS

Photo:© EPA/Alejandro Ernesto