Research Guides: War in Ukraine Resources: Background information

Origins of Conflict

Minsk Protocol History

The Economist explains: What Are the Minsk agreements?
United Nations Peacemaker: variety of Minsk agreement (2014-2015) documents in PDF
A Case Study of Minsk II Accords
From Beyond Intractability (Conflict Information Consortium (BI) at University of Colorado-Boulder):
Ukraine and the Minsk II Agreement: On frozen path to peace?
From European Parliament (2016)
Ukraine conflict: anger as Zilensky agrees vote deal in east.
From BBC
Minsk II at two years
From Brookings
The Daily Vertical: Why Minsk Failed (Transcript)
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Country Report: Grand stalemate of Minsk agreements
From Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (German political party-based foundation and think tank)
Putin and Zelensky Normandy peace summit in Paris, December 9, 2019
From Forbes

Background: Crimean Tatars

Who are the Crimean Tatars?
Background information from National Geographic
History of Crimean Tatars
From Crimean Tatar Resource Center
Who are the Crimean Tatars and Why are they Important?
From the Washington Post
RFE/RL interview with Mustafa Dzhemilev
Interview with the charismatic leader of the Crimean Tatar independence movement
Persecution of Crimean Tatars Intensifies
Report from Human Rights Watch

Crisis Timeline and Maps

The Cultural Divide - The maps below provide a sketch of the cultural divide in Ukraine before the crisis: according to the most recent census, conducted in 2001, 76.8% of the population was Ukranian and resided in the central and western portions of the country, while Russian-speakers, accounting for 16.9% of citizens, predominated in the east and southeast, particulary in Crimea.