The declaration of the state sovereignty of Russia, passed by the RSFSR Supreme Soviet ten years ago, became one of the first points in a new system of coordinates not only in the USSR but the world over. This was only later followed by the “parade of sovereignties,” the 1991 putsch, and the official independence of Ukraine, which finally buried the Soviet Union.
During this decade, Ukraine and Russia have become sovereign states but remained dependent on each other. While the Western man in the street still perceives both of them as a single entity united by corruption and poverty, the ordinary Ukrainian more and more looks on Russia as a neighbor, even if a very close one. The new generation of Ukrainians, who have grown up in these years, no longer need the USSR which their parents so often mention.
In ten years, Russia has lost a very specific empire while still remaining a great power. Its political elite may still be thinking in categories of the non-existent Union and the lost Cold War, and one can still here in Moscow and other Russian cities complaints that “you broke away from us.” But ten years ago, it was Russia that symbolized the end of the epoch of global confrontation and thus gave Ukraine and other Soviet republics a chance to make their choice. And it is not Russia’s fault that very often Ukrainian and other leaders could only borrow its ailments, typical of any society in transition, instead of learning how to behave on the larger international stage and defend their own interests.
Obviously in ten years Russia could become still farther from us, when one more generation grows up and when we will have to show a foreign-travel passport to Russian border guards. This is neither bad or good. It is reality.
COMMENTS
Oleksandr DERHACHOV, political scientist:
“Russia was the former Soviet Union’s first republic to start the process of sovereignization and gave the first impetus to serious geopolitical changes in this huge region of the world. As of today, this process has not yet been fully completed: there are obvious problems both on the level of each post-Soviet country and from the angle of geopolitical relationships. Russia remains a very important state in terms of world politics, and its role was not only confined to being the sole heir to the USSR’s nuclear missile potential. The place the Soviet Union held in the system of relations could not be filled with just a set of some other relations, so Russia continues, although to a lesser extent and with less influence on the course of events, to determine these relations. And I do not think Bill Clinton was only being diplomatically courteous in Moscow, when he pointed out Russia’s very important role in the system of global relationship. It is obvious today that Russia cannot be isolated or excluded from broad processes. But it still remains unclear what qualitative role it will be playing in the system of these relations, which is connected, to a large extent, with the contradictory nature of state building and sociopolitical processes in Russia. And the point is not only in the desire to play a special role in international affairs. The question is in a certain model of domestic development: state-run entities dominate social processes, there are only fragments, rather than any mature forms, of civil society; and many things are being done by means of official schemes that have received insufficient legal form. In other words, the state official, the political figure, and the bureaucrat, rather than the Constitution and law, is currently the main actor in Russia.
“This identifies Russia’s place vis-З-vis the West, as it does the nature of relations between Ukraine and Russia. Obviously, we look alike. The most recent elections in both countries showed quite vividly that we develop in parallel and do not resemble most countries of Europe, including our closest neighbors and former Warsaw Pact allies. At the same time, the two of us look very much alike, although we declare different foreign political orientations. Ukraine declares a desire to integrate with Europe but, nonetheless, is lagging behind with the domestic reforms required for this goal to be achieved. Russia remains, as before, a special obstacle here. Russia itself develops a special relationship with Europe and strives to preserve its prevailing influence at least within the post-Soviet territory. Obviously, Ukraine will have to solve a quite difficult problem, and we are hardly prepared today to solve it due to the special features of our political development, existing state system, and the quality of the political elite and political leaders. Quite the contrary, there are signs that Ukraine will have to orient itself toward Russia in many aspects, balancing between the West and Russia and remaining in an utterly indefinite geopolitical situation.”
Ihor YUKHNOVSKY, People’s Deputy of Ukraine:
“During the ten years of its statehood and transition to market relations, Russia has achieved far greater economic success than Ukraine. However, the former still has tremendous problems with the integrity of its territory populated by various nationalities. The further development of democracy in Russia will speed up the centrifugal movement of its many autonomous entities as far as reaching political, economic, and ethnic independence. Hence, in Russia everything will depend on what kind of policy it will pursue. Unsuccessful policies in Chechnya have confined Russia for a very long time to a condition which has nothing to do with democracy and thus has no benefits.
“If Russia believes it can compete with American military might and modern Euro- American technologies, this is a mirage and absolutely senseless, for development in the military field should always go hand in hand with that in the civilian sphere.
“I think it especially important that Russia become aware of the priority of its domestic development. It is on this basis that Russia must build its relationship with Ukraine as a friendly country. Our northern neighbor must understand that the more Ukraine develops, the better for Russia, and vice versa. Our relations will only develop successfully on the basis of mutual support, including in the field of trade.”
Mykhailo PASHKOV, supervisory research fellow, Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research:
“Summing up the past decade, we should note this was a very stormy and contradictory period of sociopolitical transformation in Russia, the process of painful self-identification of a country in a changing world. Russia has crossed a landmark, when the ‘collective’ Boris Yeltsin gave way to the new president, Vladimir Putin. Now Russia, figuratively speaking, is bracing itself. The branches of power are gradually narrowing their differences, the vertical of executive power is being strengthened, and top management cadres are being updated. In other words, new-generation political managers are being recruited into the higher echelons of public administration, the state propaganda machinery is being reinforced, and domestic resources are being gradually mobilized to defend the interests of Russia. It also seems to me Russia has introduced serious changes in its foreign policy: it has become more pragmatic, having some elements of learning from practice in the economic realm.
“As for the bilateral relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the transition to such market-oriented pragmatic relations requires getting rid of some past fears, stereotypes, and illusions. We must break the vicious circle of traditional problems that have been nagging us these past years: relations with NATO, gas debts, trade barriers, the Black Sea Fleet, dividing up former USSR property, etc. It seems important to lay down new rules in the economic relations with Russia in order to scrap the residual- financing principle we inherited from the Soviet economy. What seems very promising in this respect is the establishment of large corporations, enterprises, and associations in such fields as aerospace, transportation mainlines, metallurgy, and the agro- industrial complex. Decentralization of trade and economic contacts, including the mechanism of interregional cooperation, could be another element of long-term cooperation between Ukraine and Russia. About 200 agreements have been signed as of today between the regions of Ukraine and Russia. If at least half of them were to work, this would have very good results.”
Hennady UDOVENKO, People’s Deputy of Ukraine:
“Russia has traveled quite an active road of democratic and economic transformations: this was a hard way for such a big country, with so much bloodshed, but still Russia did not veer off it. Russia regularly holds democratic elections, a third president was elected, power is being transferred peacefully — so, in this aspect, Russia has a positive influence on post- Soviet society.
“Simultaneously, the Chechnya War is still raging in Russia, taking a heavy toll of human lives. What we see is in fact genocide against their own people only because these people want to be independent and shape their own destiny. Undoubtedly, this is a shame for Russian politicians, and it is not accidental that these actions are always in the focus of the world public opinion.
“Ukrainian-Russian relations have seen ups and downs over during period. Although the two sides adopted, signed, and ratified the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership, and signed the Economic Cooperation Agreement, there still remain a lot of unsettled issues in our relations. First of all, the Russian political elite is still unable to overcome stereotypes inherent in its mentality. I have repeatedly pointed out that Russian democracy ends at the Russo-Ukrainian border. The Russian mentality still cherishes a hope that Ukraine will first come under the influence and then become member of a certain still to be born Slavic union or something like that. Russia cannot accept our state’s independent course and periodically rebukes us, for example: look, we supply you gas, and you pursue an independent course! These stereotypes must be done away with. There are problems with delimitation and demarcation of the state border. For instance, the Russians categorically oppose drawing the borderline in the Strait of Kerch and the Azov Sea, regarding the latter as their own inner sea. This is accompanied with continuous ideological pressure: for example, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent Ukraine a protest recently over the alleged destruction in Lviv of the newsstands selling Russian publications. This is nonsense and a provocation: nothing of the sort has happened.
“Thus many efforts are still to be made for us to live in peace and harmony with Russia and for our relations to be built on an equal and mutually-advantageous basis.”
Oleksandr PUKHKAL, People’s Deputy of Ukraine:
“Russia has gone down the road of radical transformation of its whole society over this period. Economically, the Russian Federation has achieved even more than Ukraine, for its market-oriented transformation was going at a more rapid pace and had a more clearly-outlined strategy.
“Out of the problems which neither Russia nor Ukraine have managed to solve completely, the principal one is the selection of an optimal pattern of public administration and state power. Today, both countries are on the threshold of a deep reform and transformation of their political-administrative systems. The newly-elected president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, is beginning his term with improving the system and searching for a new model of public administration: the formation of seven regions, which have united the subjects of the federation in relatively self-sufficient territories, reflects the desire to increase the level of administration as a whole.
“Another problem is a weakening influence of the state on the course of social processes. Russia is likely to renew influence of the state on these processes in the nearest future and to introduce certain changes in its doctrine of reforms.
“One more problem still unsolved in Russia is finding a realistic place in the international division of labor and international economic ties. The world of today continues to treat Russia as a powerful state, but its foreign economic turnover, for instance, is dwindling with each passing year. The Russia Federation fails to make full use of its true potential.
“Among the negative factors is, of course, the problem of interethnic relations. Russia does not shun military conflicts entailing a heavy toll of human lives.
“I think the election of a new president marks a new stage in Ukrainian-Russian relations, characterized by patriotic and pragmatic intentions from both sides. The so-called shirtsleeves diplomacy, which for a time moderated the Russian side’s financial claims, has given way to a phase when our two sides put concrete calculations and visions on the negotiating table. As far as I can see, the election of a new Russian president has resuscitated the long-abandoned ties between individual enterprises. I dare forecast that the economic factor of the Ukrainian-Russian relations is going to increase in the immediate future.”
Mykhailo RATUSHNY, People’s Deputy of Ukraine:
“One of the classics of Marxism- Leninism said the Soviet Union could be brought down not only by the national liberation struggle but also by Russian chauvinism. On the tenth anniversary of Russian sovereignty, the Ukrainians should become clearly aware of the extent to which we, as a European state, are responsible for the chronically sick body called the Russian Federation. We should not allow the disease of chauvinism and human rights abuses to progress and intensify. If we do so this will greatly help the ordinary citizen to become European.
“The protection of human rights and the rights of nationalities and ethnic groups living in the Russian Federation has always been a weak point for it. Russian chauvinism, in the times of both the Tsarist empire and the Soviet Union, took a great toll in Ukrainian lives, so we must be on a sort of moral guardian; we have a moral right to say: don’t wipe out the Chechens, don’t close churches, for example, Ukrainian ones, as was done near Moscow, don’t make Moscow visitors wear some Nazi- style badges, and don’t impose a special police regime on those you call ‘persons of Caucasian ethnicity.’ Russia wants to show all that it belongs to Europe, but such methods of work is not a European style.
“Next, we must always act as a vaccination against attempts by Russia to revive the Russian Empire. And if the Russians do not want to heed us, we must turn to Europe, the US, and other civilized states if they still do not understand how deeply instilled in the Russian organism is the bacillus of ignoring the rights of man and nationalities.”
