EDITORIAL: Only 14 years ago... (06/19/05)

EDITORIAL

Only 14 years ago...

Today, as we ponder where Ukraine is headed under the leadership of independent Ukraine's third president, Viktor Yushchenko, who has been in office a scant five months, it is worthwhile, every now and then, to take a step back and look at where the country once was.

Only 14 years ago, on June 23, 1991, Kyiv was the site of a major march in protest against a new union treaty that would preserve the USSR. A draft of the proposed agreement had been presented just days earlier, on June 17, by Moscow.

To be sure, it was only three months before that, on March 17, that an all-USSR referendum was held concerning the preservation of the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics." The voting in Ukraine showed that the republic's citizens - 70.2 percent of them - wanted to remain part of a political union with the center.

However - and this was a big "however" - 80.2 percent of Ukraine's citizens also said "yes" to the question posed in a republican referendum held that same day. The question - which asked, "Do you agree that Ukraine should be part of a union of Soviet sovereign states on the principles of the declaration on the state sovereignty of Ukraine?" - qualified precisely what kind of arrangement with Moscow the people of Ukraine preferred. And, it was quite apparent that the sovereignty of Ukraine that had been proclaimed on July 16, 1990, was being taken seriously - both by the members of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Soviet who had approved the second question's inclusion on the March 17 plebiscite and by the people who ultimately voted "yes."

June 23, 1991, marked an important milestone in Ukraine's relations with Moscow as thousands of protesters in Kyiv - with former Soviet political prisoner Lev Lukianenko at the head of the march - made clear their feelings: Ukraine's sovereignty comes first. First, they argued, Ukraine should adopt its new Constitution. Then, and only then, should Ukraine consider whether to sign a new union treaty. They were also quite clear about their ultimate goal: independence. Four days later, the Parliament voted overwhelmingly to suspend all discussion of the union treaty until after September 15, loudly demonstrating to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that Ukraine would not bow to his demands to pass the treaty by mid-July, before a meeting of the G-7 where he hoped to present some semblance of Soviet unity.

Then, on August 24, 1991, impelled by the failed coup in Moscow, the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet proclaimed Ukraine an independent state and declared that the question of independence would be put to a vote by the people on December 1. The Parliament's move came just over three weeks after President George Bush had addressed the body, issuing his ill-advised warning about "suicidal nationalism."

By the end of the year, of course, the people of Ukraine did indeed weigh in, voting overwhelmingly - 90.32 percent - for independence in the nationwide referendum. International recognition followed, with Poland and Canada on December 2 becoming first and second, respectively, to grant diplomatic recognition to independent Ukraine (the U.S. did not do so until December 25, after President Gorbachev resigned), and the list of countries extending formal recognition grew to 25 by year's end.

Thus, in a short six months Ukraine had moved from a republic of the USSR to an independent state. And the USSR was no more.

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