ON THE PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MINSK AGREEMENTS

1. Immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine and its strict implementation starting from 00.00 a.m. (Kiev time) on the 15th of February, 2015.

The commitment to a ceasefire stemming from the Package of Measures and more than a dozen and a half ceasefire recommitments agreed in the Contact Group (CG), including a "comprehensive and indefinite" ceasefire (effective from 21 July 2019), were
not observed by the Ukrainian side.
In 2021, the OSCE SMM recorded some 94 thousand violations of the ceasefire regime (and a total of at least 1.5 million since the signing of the Package of Measures).

At the Contact Group meeting on 22 July 2020, as a result of the momentum created by the meeting in the Normandy Format at the level of political advisers, Kiev and Donbass agreed on a list of measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime, including the publication of information on the issuance of ceasefire orders, disciplinary measures for their violations, the introduction of a ban on the use of fire, including sniping fire, a ban on offensive action and sabotage and reconnaissance operations, a ban on the deployment of heavy weapons near civilian infrastructure, etc. These measures came into effect from 00:01 a.m.
(Kiev time) on 27 July 2020.

However, already on 23 July 2020, while in Stanytsia Luganskaya, Mr. Zelensky stated that the measures agreed upon in the Contact Group "must be signed by all the members of the Normandy Format". Thus, a new condition was suddenly put forward, and the fate of the truce was once again put into question.

Only eight months later, on 27 March 2021, as a result of urgent appeals within the Normandy Format and the Contact Group, Ukraine published the text of the ceasefire order to its military, which was authentic and without distortion, unlike what it had done on more than one occasion.

On 10 September 2021, Ukraine, under far-fetched pretexts (DPR chevrons on the Donetsk representatives of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) and other), disrupted the implementation of agreements on a joint inspection with the participation of OSCE representatives in connection with the extension of a trench in Shumy settlement, including the preparation of relevant information and a photo (video) report.

On 28 September 2021, UAF Commander-in-Chief, V.Zaluzhny, and, on 5 October 2021, Commander of the Joint Forces Operation, A. Pavlyuk, said that commanders in the field can independently decide to open fire depending on the situation without obtaining approval of higher commanders and can use all weapons available to them.

The Minister of Defence of Ukraine A. Reznikov, made a statement about the future use of UAV "Bayraktar" in violation not only of the document on additional measures of 22 July 2020, but also of the Memorandum of 19 September 2014.

During the Contact Group meeting held on 22 December 2021, the Ukrainian side undertook to reaffirm its commitment to the additional measures of 22 July 2020, which was done using very vague and broad wording, but was again disavowed by V. Zaluzhny's statement of 10 January 2022.

2. Withdrawal of heavy weapons by both sides on equal distances in order to create a security zone at least 50 kilometres wide from each other for the artillery systems with caliber greater than 100 mm and more, a security zone of 70 km wide for MLRS and 140 km wide for MLRS "Tornado-C", "Uragan", "Smerch" and Tactical missile systems "Tochka" ("Tochka U"):

- for the Ukrainian troops: from de facto line of contact;

- for the armed formations from certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblast of Ukraine from the line of contact according to the Minsk Memorandum of September 19, 2014.

The withdrawal of the heavy weapons as specified above is to start on day 2 of the ceasefire at the latest and be completed within 14 days.

The process shall be facilitated by the OSCE and supported by the Trilateral Contact Group.

The OSCE SMM regularly recorded the presence of weapons, including heavy weapons, in violation of the lines of withdrawal.

3. Ensure effective monitoring and verification of the ceasefire regime and the withdrawal of heavy weapons by the OSCE from the day 1 of the withdrawal, using all technical equipment necessary, including satellites, drones, radar equipment, etc.

Kiev obstructed SMM monitoring by denying the Mission access to a number of areas under the pretext of a "mine threat", which could not but affect the accuracy and objectivity of the final monitoring data.

4. Launch a dialogue, on day 1 of the withdrawal on modalities of local elections in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” as well as on the future regime of these areas based on this Law.

Adopt promptly, by no later than 30 days after the date of signing of the document a resolution of the Parliament of Ukraine specifying the area enjoying the special regime, under the Law of Ukraine "On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions”, based on the line of the Minsk Memorandum of September 19, 2014.

Kiev has avoided direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk since the beginning of the conflict in 2014. In June 2020, Foreign Minister D. Kuleba said that "Kiev will never enter into direct dialogue with the so-called DPR and LPR". In early July 2020, he also said that the demand for direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk is "an issue that blocks everything".

On 15 July 2020, the Verhovnaya Rada of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 795-IX "On scheduling regular local elections in 2020", pursuant to which voting was held on 25 October 2020 throughout the country, except for the non-government-controlled areas of Donbass. Kiev set a number of deliberately unacceptable conditions for organising elections there that contradicted the Minsk Agreements in terms of the sequence of steps for the political settlement (they did not align with paragraphs 4, 9, 11 and 12 of the Package of Measures).

On 11 March 2020, representatives of Kiev (including the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, A. Yermak), together with representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk, signed the minutes of the Contact Group meeting (also witnessed by the signatures of representatives of Russia and the OSCE) and approved a draft decision on the establishment of an Advisory Council (working group) to discuss with Donbass the political and legal aspects of the settlement, including the holding of local elections. It was agreed that such a decision would be approved at the next meeting of the Contact Group. However, on 26 March 2020, Kiev disavowed its agreement and refused to sign the decision on the establishment of the Advisory Council.

Following this, Kiev began to insist on the exclusion of representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk from the negotiation process (statement by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, A. Yermak, of 4 May 2020 and others) and attempted to replace them with more convenient figures, including from among people who had not lived in Donbass for a long time. Those persons were then included in the Ukrainian delegation to Minsk.

In the draft final statement of the Berlin meeting in the Normandy Format at the level of advisers of 10 February 2022 (ultimately never agreed upon), the Ukrainian side refused even to quote the provisions of the Minsk Agreements saying that the matters of the future post-conflict status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions should be resolved in consultations and discussions with representatives of certain areas.

5. Ensure pardon and amnesty by enacting the law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of persons in connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine.

The Law "On Preventing the Prosecution and Punishment of Persons Who Took Part in the Events on the Territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions" was adopted by the Verhovnaya Rada of Ukraine on 16 September 2014, but was never signed by the President of Ukraine and, accordingly, has not entered into force. Kiev refused to grant amnesty to the Donbass militias, similarly to what it did in relation to the participants in the armed coup d'état of February 2014, who publicly confessed to participating in the Maidan shootings in Kiev.

G.Tretyakova, who was appointed by President Zelensky in May 2020 as Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Contact Group, repeatedly said at meetings that Kiev would not carry out "procedural cleaning".

In a departure from the written commitments, signed by the former head of delegation in the Contact Group, L.Kuchma on 23 December 2020, to carry out and complete the so-called procedural clearance necessary to exclude the possibility of arresting and sentencing to re-imprisonment former prisoners from certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions who had been released and handed over to the Donbass side, in the event of their visit to Kiev-controlled territory, the Ukrainian side refused to confirm them during the relevant negotiations.

6. Ensure release and exchange of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, based on the principle “all for all”. This process is to be finished on the day 5 after the withdrawal at the latest.

On 29 December 2019 and 16 April 2020, exchanges of detained persons (two hundred and about thirty persons, respectively) were carried out, which was an important humanitarian step, but did not become an all-for-all exchange. The Ukrainian side repeatedly disrupted the exchanges by revising the lists of persons to be exchanged and changing conditions at the last minute. The work to prepare the lists of persons to be exchanged was continued.

Many of the persons returned by Kiev to Donbass were subjected to torture and deprived of proper medical care (these facts were personally established by the co-ordinator of the humanitarian subgroup of the Contact Group, T.Frisch, as he informed the representatives of the OSCE participating states during his briefing on 6 May 2020).

Kiev's representatives refused to sign in the Contact Group a statement (declaration) on the renunciation of the use of torture against detainees, despite the fact that Donetsk and Lugansk had expressed their agreement to do so and had repeatedly raised the issue of its signing at the subgroup meetings (this information was also confirmed by T. Frisch during his briefing on 6 May 2020).

7. Ensure safe access, delivery, storage, and distribution of humanitarian assistance to those in need, on the basis of an international mechanism.

This was prevented by the complete transport, economic, food and social blockade imposed by Kiev on Donbass.

As a result, food and medicines, including medical supplies, could not be delivered to the region from the rest of Ukraine for several years. During the COVID-19 epidemic, there were only isolated cases of deliveries of relief supplies (masks, gloves, etc.) by ICRC to certain areas of Donbass.

8. Definition of modalities of full resumption of socio-economic ties, including social transfers, such as pension payments and other payments (incomes and revenues, timely payments of all utility bills, reinstating taxation within the legal framework of Ukraine).

To this end, Ukraine shall reinstate control of the segment of its banking system in the conflict-affected areas and possibly an international mechanism to facilitate such transfers shall be established.

The former leadership of Ukraine (Poroshenko), obeying the demands of radical nationalists, legalised in March 2017 the de facto socio-economic and transport blockade of Donbass, introduced in 2014 and aimed at "strangling" the region.

The Donbass banking system was not restored and Kiev was unwilling to negotiate its restart in the Contact Group. No international mechanism to facilitate funds transfers was established. The Franco-German idea of mobile banking points along the line of contact was not developed either.

The Ukrainian government refused to transfer pensions and social benefits to the region for Donbass residents in an orderly manner, forcing them to make unsafe journeys across the contact line to receive them. Payments were made only after regular confirmation of the internally displaced person (IDP) status, a requirement introduced in 2016 by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which was recognised as unlawful by Ukrainian courts, including in December 2018 by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, but continued to be applied. On 17 March 2020, the Verhovnaya Rada of Ukraine amended this procedure by Law No. 530-IX, which did not abolish the linkage of payments to IDP status, but only temporarily, until the end of the COVID19 epidemic, prohibited deprivation of IDP status. Funds transfers were not made centrally, but on an individual basis only to Ukrainian bank cards, from which funds could not be withdrawn in Donbass.

9. Reinstatement of full control of the state border by the government of Ukraine throughout the conflict area, starting on day 1 after the local elections and ending after the comprehensive political settlement (local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on the basis of the Law of Ukraine and constitutional reform) to be finalized by the end of 2015, provided that paragraph 11 has been implemented in consultation with and upon agreement by representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group.

Owing to Kiev's reluctance to take the steps agreed with Donetsk and Lugansk to reach the comprehensive political settlement, the prerequisites for Ukraine to regain control of the border were not created. Such a settlement, according to para. 9 of the Package of Measures, was to precede the resolution of the border control issue.

10. Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under monitoring of the OSCE. Disarmament of all illegal groups.

Ukraine did not disarm nationalist battalions under monitoring of the OSCE, but incorporated them into the UAF and state security agencies. The nationalist battalion "Right Sector" took part in hostilities in Donbass without having any specific legal status or being included in any Ukrainian military or security services. It was only in 2022 that it was included in the Ukrainian armed forces.

11. Carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine with a new Constitution entering into force by the end of 2015, providing for decentralization as a key element (including a reference to the specificities of certain areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, agreed with the representatives of these areas), as well as adopting permanent legislation on the special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in line with measures as set out in the footnote until the end of 2015.

The special order of local self-government in Donbass (special status of Donbass) was not legislated on a permanent basis. The relevant law, although adopted in September 2014, was of a temporary nature: it was extended each time for a one-year term (the last extension was until 31 December 2022; the decision was adopted by the Verhovnaya Rada on 2 December 2021), but did not enter into force and was not applied on a permanent basis.

Repeatedly, Ukraine's top officials publicly noted that Kiev had no plans to enshrine the special status of Donbass in the country's Constitution (Statement posted on the website of the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky following the meeting of the Contact Group held on 14 May 2020: "The Ukrainian side has once again ruled out the possibility of enshrining the special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Constitution of Ukraine").

Kiev did not comply with the agreement reached by the leaders of the "Normandy Four" at the summits in Paris on 2 October 2015, in Berlin on 19 October 2016, and in Paris on 9 December 2019, providing for the incorporation into Ukrainian legislation of the norm on the enactment of the law on the special status of Donbass according to the "Steinmeier formula" ("on a temporary basis on the day of local elections and on a permanent basis after the publication of the final report of the OSCE ODIHR").

On 24 February 2018, the law of Ukraine on the so-called "reintegration" of Donbass came into force, reformatting the security operation into a military operation and effectively ruling out the possibility of a political settlement.

Legislative acts restricting the right to linguistic self-determination provided for in para. 11 of the Package of Measures were adopted and entered into force (legislative restrictions on the use of the Russian language, including the laws "On Education", "On Secondary General Education" and "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language", etc.).

12. Based on the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions”, questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.

On 15 July 2020, the Verhovnaya Rada of Ukraine adopted resolution No. 795-IX "On scheduling regular local elections in 2020". It said that they were scheduled for 25 October 2020, but the elections were not held in Donbass because of the deliberately impossible conditions put forward by Kiev that contradicted the Minsk Agreements in terms of the sequence of steps for the political settlement (they did not align with paragraphs 4, 9, 11 and 12 of the Package of Measures).

Kiev avoided direct dialogue with representatives of Donbass on modalities of local elections and did not take into account the proposals by Donetsk and Lugansk on this issue that were submitted to the Ukrainian side within the framework of the Contact Group's relevant subgroup.

13. Intensify the work of the Trilateral Contact Group including through the establishment of working groups on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements. They will reflect the composition of the Trilateral Contact Group.

Four working subgroups (on security and on political, economic and humanitarian issues) were established and functioned. Kiev blocked the idea previously agreed with Donbass of intensifying the work of the Trilateral Contact Group by creating an Advisory Council (working group) within it. Against this background, Ukraine's policy of marginalising the Contact Group's mechanisms, blocking the work of the subgroups and seeking to move all discussions to the Normandy Format, where Donetsk and Lugansk were not represented, was clearly visible.