In Minsk, on 12 February 2015, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine agrees the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements (Minsk II). The document is signed in the framework of the Minsk summit; besides representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, signatures of representatives of the formations in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions also appear, without recognition of their status. On the same day the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and France and the Chancellor of Germany adopt a supporting declaration (Normandy Format).

Point 1 requires an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and its strict implementation as of 15 February 2015, 12 a.m. local time. Point 2 provides for withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides by equal distances to create a security zone of at least 50 km for artillery of calibre 100 and more, 70 km for MLRS and 140 km for certain Tornado-S, Uragan, Smerch and tactical missile systems; withdrawal is to start by day 2 of the ceasefire at the latest and be completed within 14 days, facilitated by the OSCE.

Point 3 requires effective OSCE monitoring and verification of the ceasefire and heavy-weapons withdrawal, using satellites, drones, radar and other technical means. Point 4 launches, on day 1 of the withdrawal, a dialogue on modalities of local elections under Ukrainian law and the law on interim local self-government in certain areas, and on the future regime of those areas; the Verkhovna Rada is to adopt within 30 days of signature a resolution specifying the special-regime area on the line of the Minsk Memorandum of 19 September 2014.

Points 5–7 provide for pardon and amnesty by a law prohibiting prosecution connected with the events in those areas; release and exchange of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons on the principle “all for all”, to be finished by day 5 after the withdrawal at the latest; and safe humanitarian access. Further points cover restoration of socio-economic links, Ukrainian control of the state border after local elections and constitutional special status, withdrawal of foreign armed formations, and constitutional reform, with a detailed thirteen-point calendar.

The UN Security Council, by Resolution 2202 (2015) of 17 February 2015, endorses the Package of Measures (Annex I) and welcomes the Normandy Format leaders’ Declaration (Annex II). The official package text is published by the OSCE; Annex I of the resolution reproduces the English version.

The document is not the Minsk Protocol of 5 September 2014 (Minsk I); it is the implementation instrument of 12 February 2015. Many provisions were never fully implemented; after 2022 Russia declared that the agreements no longer existed.

Image: Normandy Format talks in Minsk, February 2015; CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Minsk agreements. Treaty text: Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, Minsk, 12 February 2015 (OSCE).