The latest nail was a report in Germany’s Bild newspaper on March 30 that it has obtained a secret Russian government document detailing how Russia has controlled the occupied areas of the Donbas via a Kremlin “Donbas Commission” since December 2014.
We can’t independently confirm the authenticity of this document, but everything it states fits with what the Kremlin has been doing – paying lip service to Minsk, while ignoring its provisions and setting up quasi-states in Ukraine’s east.
The Kremlin never intended Minsk, or Minsk II, to succeed. They were tools to undermine the West’s support for Ukraine, by forcing Kyiv to take on commitments it could and should never deliver. The Kremlin calculated that criticism of Ukraine would build as months passed without Kyiv being able to keep its promises, and it also calculated that the West wouldn’t exert any pressure on it to fulfill Russia’s own Minsk commitments.
That’s turning out to be more right than wrong, unfortunately, as the West just wants the war to go away.
We’re now in the absurd situation in which some in the West are criticizing Ukraine for not doing more to ensure proper elections are held in the Donbas (Point 12 of the Minsk II agreement), while the very starting point of the whole process (Point 1, on a full cease-fire) has never been respected by Russia or its proxy forces in the Donbas.
It’s time to abandon Minsk. Bury it in an unmarked grave. Like so much that comes out of the Kremlin these days, the Minsk peace agreement is a fake. Its function is to provide political cover for the Kremlin as it moves ahead with its own agenda in the Donbas.
By continuing to support Minsk, the West is helping the Kremlin achieve its goal of setting up another frozen conflict.
There has never been a full cease-fire in the Donbas: soldiers on both sides are being killed practically every day, as are civilians. The war continues.
It’s time for a real peace process to start, and a genuine peace conference to be convened. In the meantime, more military aid and weapons should be coming Ukraine’s way to provide a greater incentive for Moscow to come to the peace table or pay a higher price for the war that has killed 10,000 people already.
And another suggestion: Hold the talks somewhere other than Minsk. The name of the Belarusian capital will now forever be synonymous with failure, shame, weakness and duplicity when it comes to ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
