Such a statement Kurt Volcker made during a seminar held the day before at the Washington Hudson Institute, according to the analytical center Hudson Institute.
"The so-called 'Luhansk People's Republic' and 'Donetsk People's Republic' are entities created by Russia to create a political fact on the ground, to help mask Russia's role and cement an ongoing conflict. They need to be disbanded," the U.S. Special Representative said.
Kurt Volker also noted that the separatist formations have no place in the constitutional order of Ukraine and called for the implementation of the Minsk agreements as the main way to restore Ukraine's sovereignty throughout the Donbas territory.
The U.S. Special Representative stressed the importance of implementing their political aspects and, in particular, granting the territories now controlled by the separatists a special status. According to him, ensuring of this should become the task of international peacekeeping forces.