Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has proposed on Monday a special three-year self-rule status for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the free use of the Russian language there.

Poroshenko told top lawmakers the proposal would be part of a broader deal with the pro-independence rebels.

The bill guarantees the use of the Russian or any other language “in public and private life, studying and supporting Russian or any other language, its free development and equal status”, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda quoted the draft law as saying.

“The special status has a clear time definition: three years,” Poroshenko said, as quoted by Itar-Tass. “Over this period, we will be able to implement issues of deep decentralization, which should also be a subject for making relevant amendments to the Constitution.”

Kiev will also guarantee that the persons who participated in the fighting in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions would not be prosecuted, Itar-Tass reports.

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