DISINFO: Ukraine claims that the Minsk Agreements are just a piece of paper
SUMMARY
The Ukrainian side claimed that the Minsk agreements are just a piece of paper and they are not necessary for implementation. Therefore Russia could claim as well that there’s no need to fulfill these agreements. Or is it only the DPR-LPR that should fulfill them? If this agreement is optional, then could the DPR-LPR attack too?
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine and the Minsk Agreements. The Ukrainian side has never claimed that "the Minsk agreements are just a piece of paper". Oleksandr Merezhko, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group, said at the end of May 2020: "If Ukraine adheres to its obligations and Russia does not, we have the right - and I draw an analogy with an international agreement - for non-compliance and breach of the agreement by the counter-party to withdraw from the process. It will no longer be a legal but a political right. Sanctions will still apply. After all, it was not our fault that the Minsk agreements were violated". The implementation of the agreements remains one of the key priorities of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Since 2014, negotiations with Russia to resolve the conflict in the Donbas have been held within the framework of the Normandy Format and the Minsk process. A special Trilateral contact group is working on a peaceful settlement of the Donbas situation. Three parties are involved in this process: representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. Unofficially, representatives of the "LDNR" factions are also present. The second set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements was signed on 12 February 2015. The first paragraph of the document relates to an immediate ceasefire. Next, it is necessary to withdraw heavy weapons, ensure OSCE monitoring, release prisoners, grant Donbas special status and hold local elections, provide amnesty to the parties involved in the conflict and restore control over the Ukrainian-Russian border in the conflict zone. There are no conditions that the Ukrainian authorities should conduct direct negotiations with the leaders of the "LDNR" factions in the Minsk agreements. Read similar cases alleging that Ukraine does not advance in the implementation of the Minsk agreements under Zelenskyy, that Kyiv does not want to implement the current Minsk agreements, that Ukraine does not want to implement the Minsk agreements because it is controlled by the West, or that Kyiv has not implemented the conditions of "Minsk-2" for five years.