‘Steinmeier formula’ officially accepted: first reaction is furious

UKRAINE - In Brief 01 Oct 2019 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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On October 1, President Zelenskiy at a press-briefing informed that the ‘Steinmeier formula’ for making peace in the east was officially accepted. The formula presumes special status for occupied territories of Eastern Donbas. The special status should be granted through a change of the Constitution after local elections at the occupied territories. The elections should be recognized by OSCE as fair and democratic. Zelenskiy mentioned that the ‘Steinmeier formula’ was a pre-condition for a meeting under the Normandy format (four countries Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France). Also he said there will be no elections until Russian forces are withdrawn from Donbas. Russian media reacted to the news demonstrably positively. Ukrainian media and opinion makers are furious, calling this move a rude mistake. Remarkably, even traditional supporters of Zelenskiy publicly criticized the decision. Details of the deal are not available yet, and many players are waiting to see at least some document. Nevertheless, it already smells like a political crisis. Acceptance of the ‘Steinmeier formula’ increases tension and raises conflicts in many dimensions. First is the point of amnesty for those who fought against Ukrainian forces. We can hardly expect them simply to disappear. In many cases those people might be elected to representative bodies. It’s too naïve to believe this layout will be easily accepted by war veterans. Secondly, the re-integration of Donbas, which has been living already for five years under the heavy propaganda of Russian media, might reshuffle the internal political layout (assuming the issue of amnesty is somehow resolved) – pro-Russian parties might boost their...