Research Guides: Crisis in Ukraine: What Happened and Why

Origins of Conflict

Peace Process and Minsk Protocol

The Economist explains: What Are the Minsk agreements?
Full text of the Minsk agreement.
From Financial Times. (In order to access this text you will need to sign up to FT service)
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: Can Minsk-2 the peace deal with Russia be salvaged?
From DW (Deutsche Welle – a government sponsored German public international broadcaster)
Ukraine Conflict: Can peace plan in east finally bring peace?
From BBC
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)
Reporting on the Minsk II Agreement: the Effect of Russian Narratives in French and German Media
Institute for European Studies Policy Brief
Putin and Zelensky Normandy peace summit in Paris, December 9, 2019
From Forbes

Searching for scholarly materials on Minsk agreement

In order to find scholarly materials on this subject go to SUBJECT DATABASES on the GWU library website. Then go to A to Z list and choose the productive databases listed below. For your searches use key words such as: Minsk AND peace AND Ukraine. (You do not need to say “Minsk accord” “Minsk agreement” or “Minsk protocol” the database will put things into the right context automatically.)

For assistance with database searching please, contact Global Resources Center librarian Mark Yoffe.

ABI/Inform Complete Plus This link opens in a new window A great starting place for business research, this database covers business conditions, trends, management techniques, corporate strategies, and industry-specific topics worldwide. Includes articles from magazines, trade publications, and scholarly journals.
Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window Covers magazines and scholarly journals in the fields of mass media and communication studies. Combines the resources formerly known as CommSearch and Mass Media Articles Index.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Back issues of core scholarly journals in subjects including African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, classics, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, population studies, sociology, and statistics. Includes free Early-Journal Content, journals published before 1923 in the U.S. and before 1870 outside of the U.S.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window Covers journal articles, books, conference proceedings, and other literature on the full range of political, social, and public policy issues. Also included is information about websites, publications and organizations.
Political Science Database This link opens in a new window Full text access to over 450 political science and international relations journals as well as dissertations, country reports, and policy papers.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window Multidisciplinary database covering both scholarly sources and popular content. Includes the contents of ProQuest Research Library, ABI-Inform, and U.S. and International Newsstreams, as well as various ProQuest disciplinary collections.
ProQuest Research Library Plus This link opens in a new window Covers a wide range of subject matter in both popular and scholarly periodicals. Also includes Proquest's Computing, Education, Religion, Science, Social Science and Telecommunication Journal modules.

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.

March 10, 2015 - Dr. Phillip Karber, President of the Potomac Foundation, discusses Russia's "hybrid warfare" campaign in eastern Ukraine -- its techniques, effectiveness, and implications for Ukraine and the West. Discussion hosted by the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program.