2024-04-02 15:30:22
In this debriefing, Benoit Paré, a former international civil servant with field experience in Ukraine, returns to discuss the Minsk I and Minsk II agreements. These agreements are central to understanding the current situation. If Minsk I, signed on September 5, 2014 under the influence of France and Germany, was not successful, Minsk II was signed on February 12, 2015, and includes 12 measures under 4 components: the security, political, humanitarian and economic aspects.
Benoit Paré presents these agreements, and the reasons which led to the failures and the resumption of the conflict in February 2022. For him, the political and humanitarian aspects failed. The political component provided for the modification of the constitution by the Ukrainian Parliament by a qualified majority of two thirds, however at the end of 2015 this will still not have been done, and this, without this leading to any sanctions. On the humanitarian side, as an observer, Benoît Paré had to measure respect for the ceasefires. He constantly played cat and mouse to find weapons that should normally be stored in predefined locations, and were not there. From his point of view, the figures he was able to observe show that it was the Ukrainian nationalists who made life untenable for the separatists of Dombass. 75% of the property destroyed was on the separatist side. Which was never reported in the media.
As a reminder, Zelinsky’s election in 2019 was eagerly awaited (he was elected with 73% of the votes) by the Ukrainian population, including in the separatist zone, because during his campaign, Zelinsky made a pro-peace speech. As soon as he was in power, Zelinsky changed his position, declaring that he would recover Dombass one way or another.
In the Minsk agreements, the only thing that has really been respected is the exchange of prisoners.
An essential debriefing to understand.
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