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What did Ukraine agree to on Donbas in 2019?
Summary
A look back at the Steinmeier formula, accepted by Ukraine on 1 October 2019 within the Minsk framework, and the questions around it.
What exactly did Ukraine sign up to when it accepted the so-called Steinmeier formula? The question was at the centre of attention on 3 October 2019, two days after Ukraine agreed to the formula on 1 October 2019 as part of the Minsk Protocol process on the war in Donbass.
As reported at the time, the formula was aimed at granting a special self-governing status to the Donbass and at organising elections validated by the OSCE and held according to Ukrainian law.
The framework behind it
The Minsk agreements were a series of international agreements meant to end the Donbas War, fought between armed Russian separatist groups, backed by Russian regular forces, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Talks were held in Minsk, Belarus, involving the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, made up of representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The leaders of France and Germany mediated in the so-called Normandy Format.
The first Minsk Protocol, known as Minsk I, was signed in September 2014 by representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group and, without recognition of their status, by the then-leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
The 1 October 2019 decision placed the formula within that long-running process. Its two elements, special status for the Donbass and OSCE-validated elections under Ukrainian law, were the points the decision addressed.
