DISINFO: What has happened since 2022 is due to Kyiv’s unwillingness to respect Minsk agreements
SUMMARY
Ukraine started the war in 2014. Russia wants to end this war. The trigger for recent events, those from 2022 to today, was the admission of the Ukrainian authorities that they have no intention of respecting the Minsk agreements, signed in 2014 to outline a plan for a peaceful solution to the situation in Donbas.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Minsk Agreements, trying to legitimise Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine by alleging that Kyiv committed atrocities against the population in Donbas and refused to implement the Minsk agreements.
Before the invasion, Russia was a party to the Minsk agreements, and these are the most recent formal documents in which Russia has affirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia has however not delivered on its side of the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The Russian side and its proxies have failed to implement a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, implement all-for-all political prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia has been strengthening the illegal armed formations in eastern Ukraine. Russia also did not allow for unfettered access to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission monitors, including to the Ukraine-Russia border, where the (very limited) monitoring mission was discontinued due to a Russian veto in summer 2021.
Without the full implementation of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons as well as permission for the full access to all territories for the OSCE monitoring mission, it is difficult to discuss the implementation of the political parts of Minsk II.
Nevertheless, Ukraine implemented as much of the Minsk agreements as could reasonably be done while not having control over the territory. It has passed – and extended with renewals – legislation on special status and amnesty (2014), and prepared draft legislation on local elections (2014). Ukraine passed constitutional amendments to provide more autonomy to the territories currently outside its control (2015).
The dead – military and civilian alike - are a result of a war Russia has started in Ukraine. It was not an internal civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014 with the invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea.
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