Germany, OSCE to draft new peace conditions for Donbas

The German government is working with the OSCE to draft new rules to preserve the truce in Donbas, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sept. 4, as reported by dw.com. The new conditions are also aimed at renewing the Normandy Format talks between the heads of state, and foreign ministers, of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, he said. The document will be ready in several weeks, he said, adding that he’s dissatisfied with the implementation of the Minsk Accords and the security level in Donbas remains inadequate.

Steinmeier’s comments came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for 45 minutes on Sept. 4 to discuss the armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. Putin also met with French President Francois Hollande for 80 minutes about Ukraine and Syria, reported French radio. They remained at odds on almost all the main points of discussion, the report said, except for the need to renew the Normandy Format talks.

On the eve of the G20 summit, Putin told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok that withdrawing from Crimea is not an option for him. “The people of Crimea made its decision and voted,” he said. “The issue is closed for history. A return to the old system doesn’t exist at all.” The Minsk Accords are the only means to resolve the conflict in Donbas, he said, blaming the failure to uphold the Minsk Accords on the “illegal government in Ukraine”.

Zenon Zawada: These early reports from Hangzhou are disturbing on a few levels. The position of the West and Russia has always been the need to fulfill the Minsk Accords, but now we are hearing about a potential Minsk Three. The main players all said they agreed on the need to renew the Normandy Format talks, but they reached this decision without Ukraine, in an accommodation to Putin. Recall, Putin rejected the Normandy Format in Hangzhou after an alleged sabotage attack by Ukrainians in Crimea, which is widely believed to have been a hoax.

We share the widely held view that the Russian government has no intention for the success of the Minsk Accords, which were set as a trap to entangle Western leaders and make them – as well as their electorates – exhausted from the conflict in Donbas. We don’t expect any amendment to the accords to bring any more success, given that they are currently rather plain to understand and fulfill, if the will was present from the Russian side.

The main thing to watch in this conflict is how long will the Western sanctions be applied and whether the Russian government will be successful in removing them in time in the legislatures and voting booths of the West. So far, the Russians have the momentum behind them.