DISINFO: Ukraine and the West did not intend to observe the Minsk agreements
SUMMARY
To avoid war, everything had to be done so that it was not an option; could Zelenskyy do it? Yes, he had to. He should have stuck to the Minsk agreements.
But now we learned that Western parties never had the slightest intention of implementing the agreement they negotiated. It was revealed by Angela Merkel, François Hollande and even Petro Poroshenko who tries to bark with the others.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, actively trying to legitimise Russia’s military actions. This narrative claims that the West and Ukraine are responsible for the war because Kyiv did not implement the Minsk agreements and that they were signed in bad faith by Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko who had no intention of complying with them. Furthermore, it implies that only Putin and the now-deceased Zakhartchenko and Plotnitski were negotiating in good faith.
This narrative is supported by misleading interpretations of 2022 interviews with Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko.
Merkel is clear that she had no illusions about the possibility of establishing a lasting peace through the Minsk talks and the only goal was to reach an agreement that would prevent the immediate takeover of all of Ukraine by Russia. The topic of compliance with the agreements is not discussed during the interview which only indicates that, in the form in which they were concluded, they created a “frozen conflict”, which means that the possibility of resuming hostilities could not be ignored. That is why Ukraine took advantage of the time won to strengthen its defences.
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 an all-for-all political prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia has been strengthening 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 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 can reasonably be done while not having control over the territory and addressed every point. 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).
Read also related cases: Minsk agreements were attempt to gain time for Ukraine, Kyiv was not implementing the Minsk agreements, Kyiv refused to implement the Minsk agreements and conducted a genocide in Donbas, Russia attacked because of Kyiv’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements.