Ukraine Constitution reform unlikely without teamwork with society — Russian FM

Reforming the Ukrainian Constitution would be hardly possible without productive cooperation with the society, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“A lot has been said recently about a need to amend the Ukrainian Constitution. However, real progress in the settlement of the issue is practically unseen, although it has been about a month since the Ukrainian parliament approved the resolution” on setting up a special parliamentary commission to prepare a draft law on amendments to the Constitution, the ministry said.

“We are disquieted by the fact that work on a constitutional reform, if it has started at all, proceeds behind closed doors, without due media coverage and absolutely necessary in such cases in-depth discussion with participation of independent experts and public organizations,” the ministry said.

“It is a matter of doubt whether the parliamentarians from the above mentioned commission, no matter how impressive their former merits would look, can independently, without productive cooperation with the society, work out a draft document that would take into account the needs and demands of interested segments of the Ukrainian society - without imbalances and detriment of the interests of regional elites,” the ministry said.