| Summary/Abstract |
THE MINSK PROCESS, a string of diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict in southeastern Ukraine, has gone into its fourth year. By and large, it has been given less than enthusiastic assessments from day one. There have been comments ranging from terse and moderately optimistic ("quite constructive, and although no breakthroughs were posted, this stage [the first round of 'Normandy format' talks between Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France] had certain benefits"1) to openly fatalistic ("the Minsk agreements are a stillborn baby"2). Judgments such as the latter statement, which earlier on mainly came from Ukrainian politicians, are increasingly widespread today.
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