THE MINSK AGREEMENTMinsk Agreement • December 7th, 2020
We, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine, as founder states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which signed the 1922 Union Treaty, further described as the high contracting parties, conclude that the USSR has ceased to exist as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality.
Signing of the Second Minsk Agreement (February 12, 2015)Minsk Agreement • June 29th, 2024
A first Minsk Agreement between Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk had been mediated in 2014 by France and Germany in order to stop the Donbas War between armed Russian separatists aided by Russian regular forces and the Ukrainian armed forces. The agreement was signed on September 5, 2014 but failed to end the fighting. Renewed negotiations, once again brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, took place in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. These produced a “package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. This video from public broadcaster ARD reports on the signing of the second Minsk agreement after 16
INTERNATIONALMinsk Agreement • February 19th, 2022
The Minsk Agreement – A Political RoadmapMinsk Agreement • October 30th, 2015
Before the Normandy Format Meeting on 2 October the prospects for the Minsk process did not look good. The insistence of the rebel ‘republics’ to hold their own elections unilaterally - although the Minsk Agreement requires they be held under Ukrainian law and OSCE supervision- threatened to undermine the agreement. President Poroshenko said explicitly that such “fake, illegal elections” would destroy the whole process. That threat was averted with a promise to delay elections until next year. This postponement in effect extended the Minsk agreement deadline beyond 31 December 2015.
The Minsk Agreement – The Military AspectsMinsk Agreement • October 30th, 2015
The new ceasefire which took effect on 1 September has held with only minor violations. This is remarkable because the original ceasefire negotiated in Minsk – which took effect on 15 February – had hardly any practical effect on the front line. What has changed? Is this new calm sustainable or can the fighting resume? And how does this affect the implementation of the Minsk Agreement? What are the critical issues to tackle?
