Home › World › What the Zakharchenko funeral meant for Normandy talks
What the Zakharchenko funeral meant for Normandy talks
Summary
A look back at the Donbas and Crimea reports that preceded 7 September 2018, from a funeral to a chemical release.
What was the state of diplomacy over eastern Ukraine on 7 September 2018? The reports available in the days before it pointed to a stalled process and a fresh dispute over a killing.
On 2 September 2018, tens of thousands of people attended the funeral of Alexander Zakharchenko, in the context of the war in Donbass. The day before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the murder was a provocation and that it would derail the stalled Normandy format peace process.
What the Normandy format was
The Normandy format, also called the Normandy contact group or Normandy Four, brought together Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France. The countries first met informally in 2014, during the 70th anniversary of the D-Day celebrations in Normandy, France. The group later had a substantial role in mediating the Minsk agreements between 2014 and 2015. It met until 2022, when further meetings failed to deescalate rising tensions before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Pollution in Crimea
Separately, on 4 September 2018, a release of a chemical substance in Armiansk, in Crimea, caused significant environmental contamination, according to reports from that date.
The two developments were unconnected in the reports, but both formed part of the news picture around 7 September 2018: a peace framework described by Moscow as stalled, and an environmental incident in the north of the Crimean peninsula.
