It was April 7, 2014, almost eight years ago.
After the pro-European revolution of Maidan which had swept away the regime of President Yanukovych, the separatist rebels supported by Moscow proclaimed the People's Republic of Donetsk, soon followed by that of Lugansk.
The war in Donbass, this region located in eastern Ukraine, was beginning.
The Minsk agreements of February 12, 2015 were certainly going to transform this open conflict into a frozen conflict, but this text negotiated by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France within the framework of the "
Normandy format
" was never applied .
, neither by the Russians nor by the Ukrainians.
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While the Ukrainian crisis - and more broadly that between NATO and Russia - has experienced an unprecedented surge since 2021, President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday February 21 that Russia officially recognized the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
By this fact, the Minsk agreements moribund for years are now buried since they provided for the maintenance of Donbass in a decentralized Ukraine.
A Ukraine whose sovereignty is now officially reduced in the eyes of Moscow.
This red line, already crossed for Crimea in 2014, had never been crossed for Donbass.
To measure the importance of such an event and understand what implication it could have in the coming days,
Le Figaro
offers a long retrospective of events in Ukraine since the beginning of the Maidan in 2013.
2013: the beginnings of the “
Maidan
”
November 21
: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych decides not to sign the association agreement proposed by the European Union, which notably refused…
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