Donetsk says may slap external management on Vodafone-Ukraine

DONETSK, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- The Donetsk People’s Republic, a self-proclaimed state in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, may introduce external management at mobile operator Vodafone-Ukraine, a local unit of U.K. giant Vodafone, head of the region Alexander Zakharchenko said on Monday.

The republic’s communications ministry said earlier that operations of Vodafone-Ukraine had been interrupted following a rupture of a local cable, which is suspected to be an act of sabotage by Ukrainian militants.

“However, I’d like to assure that we’ll respond successfully to this challenge as well: corresponding activities are already under way. If necessary, we can introduce external management,” Zakharchenko said.

“Any efforts to exert pressure on us will fail. The only acceptable mechanism of solving the conflict is a full and strict compliance with the Minsk agreements as they are written under the guarantees of the ‘Normandy Four’. There is no other way out for Kiev.”

The Minsk agreements, or the Minsk Protocol, were signed in September 2014 by Ukraine, Russia, and the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the Lugansk People’s Republic, as well as of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for immediate ceasefire in the turbulent area.

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