BRIEFING PAPER Number 9205, 26 April 2021 Crisis averted in Ukraine? By Claire Mills Since March 2021 Russia has been building up significant military forces in Crimea and along the borders of Eastern Ukraine, prompting fears of further military action in the region. On 22 April 2021 the Kremlin announced, however, that those additional troops, which it said had been deployed on exercise, would be withdrawn by 1 May 2021. Russia’s justification for the build-up has been questioned and it remains to be seen whether Russia will fully implement its commitment to withdrawal. 1. What has been happening in Ukraine since 2014? Russian-backed separatists took control of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine (the Donbas) in 2014. The 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements remain the basis for the negotiation of a political solution to the conflict. In July 2020 additional measures were agreed by the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group, intended to strengthen, and ensure compliance with, the ceasefire. However, Russia has continued to integrate Crimea within Russian territory and to destabilise Ukraine. The Donbas is mainly Russian speaking and many of the population now have Russian passports after a concerted campaign by the Kremlin since 2019 to issue passports to Ukrainian nationals living in the separatist controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.1 1 Since 2019 a reported 650,000 Russian passports have been issued, resulting in what some analysts have called a “passport protectorate”. See for example, “Russian passports: Putin’s secret weapon in the war against Ukraine”, Atlantic Council, 13 April 2021 www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library |
[email protected] | @commonslibrary 2 Crisis averted in Ukraine? Source: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, April 2019 Fighting between Russian-supported separatists and Ukrainian government forces has continued in the Donbas, even though it has rarely been in the headlines.