Mulling over Minsk: what do the Agreements (not) say?

Summary:

The rapidly deteriorating crisis between Russia, Ukraine and the West has redrawn our attention to the Minsk agreements, the documents agreed in 2014 and 2015 to find a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. After a long pause, meetings in the framework of the so-called Normandy format have resumed.

Representatives from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany gathered in Paris on 26 January and in Berlin on 10 February to continue talks on the basis of the Minsk agreements. In the West, these agreements often get a bad press. Recently, the Economist labeled the accords “a deal imposed by Russia at gunpoint in 2015, which in effect gives Ukraine’s pro-Russian regions a veto over foreign policy”. Generally, however, these agreements are more often referred to than studied, so a closer look at the various agreements that make up ‘Minsk’ may be worthwhile.