MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Ukraine’s proposed constitutional amendments on decentralization lack measures to end the conflict in the southeast of the country and diverge from the Minsk peace agreements, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation Andrei Klishas said Friday.

"The draft decentralization-aimed amendments to Ukraine’s Constitution do not contain any real mechanisms for the resolution of the territorial conflict in the southeast of the country, despite the fact that the Venice Commission approved the amendments," Klishas told RIA Novosti.

Earlier on Wednesday, the draft project of amendments was reviewed by the Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe on constitutional matters. The commission noted a need to revise the document to create separate territorial administrative units through a special law, but broadly approved of the document.

Independence fighters in Ukraine's southeast are seeking special status for the region. In February, the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk signed a ceasefire agreement with Kiev, which envisaged the end of hostilities in the conflict zone and the decentralization of power, among other provisions.

According to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the country’s parliament aims to pass a bill on constitutional reforms to decentralize power in Ukraine by July 17.

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