Russian Duma negates decision dissolving USSR (03/24/96)

Russian Duma negates decision dissolving USSR

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Russian Duma - the lower house of that country's Parliament - adopted a resolution on March 15 reversing a Soviet legislative decision made in December 1991 that renounced the 1922 treaty forming the Soviet Union.

In effect, this resolution denounces the Belaya Vezha pact of December 1991, and calls for the rebirth of the USSR - an action that sent alarming signals throughout the former Soviet republics, including Ukraine.

Voting overwhelmingly - 250-98 with no abstentions - that the break-up of the Soviet Union was illegal, Communist and nationalist forces in Russia offered a strong sense of what is brewing in the country that borders Ukraine to the north and east.

Although the vote has no legal force (it is a resolution, not a bill), it has perturbed the democrats in Russia, as well as democratic forces in other former Soviet republics.

"You cannot turn back history; history cannot be rewound like a tape in a recorder. Ukraine decided its fate and confirmed its independence in a referendum," said Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on the day of the vote in Russia.

His predecessor, Leonid Kravchuk, who signed the Belaya Vezha accord along with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Belarusian leader Stanislau Shushkevich, said the action could signal "the beginning of the collapse of the Commonwealth of Independent States," a weak body of 12 former Soviet republics.

Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil agreed that the denunciation of the Belaya Vezha accord may lead to the dissolution of the CIS, adding that the vote reaffirmed the 1922 treaty on the formation of the Soviet Union.

"Rukh has always been against the CIS, an imperial-type superstructure. And, we [the people of Ukraine] have exercised our right to self-determination, as outlined by the Soviet Constitution, by opting for independence in 1991," he noted, putting a positive spin to the recent events in Russia.

"We must look towards Russia's president, who has considerable constitutional powers, including dissolution of the Duma," said Mr. Kravchuk, who also called on "constructive and healthy forces in Parliament to unite and prevent Ukrainian leftists from going on a rampage."

Russian President Yeltsin, who is scheduled to arrive in Kyiv in early April for a state visit, condemned the move in the Duma, calling it "scandalous" and "irresponsible."

The Duma's vote heightened tensions in Moscow during this presidential election year, and its reverberations have been felt throughout former Soviet territory.

"As the guarantor of the Constitution, I will not stand any attempts to undermine the basics of Russian statehood and destablize the situation in the country," said Mr. Yeltsin. He released a statement on March 16 and instructed Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov to notify foreign states and international institutions that the Duma's vote does not alter Russia's status, and is not legally binding.

President Kuchma criticized the Duma vote, saying it was "not to Russia's benefit and improper." He recalled that Duma members in Kyiv last month - Speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov and Gennadiy Zyuganov - had told Ukrainian leaders "that they had no intention of disturbing the past."

He noted that the resolution has "no legal consequences for Ukraine," but underscored that "the supreme legislative body of Russia has clearly shown its vision for the future."

Although most Ukrainian politicians agree that the Russian Duma vote will not threaten Ukraine's independence, many do see it as a way to activate left-wing forces in Ukraine, such as the Communist Party.

For example, a rally held on March 17 in Kyiv to mark the fifth anniversary of the referendum on the preservation of the USSR urged the Ukrainian Parliament to denounce the Belaya Vezha agreement, reported Interfax-Ukraine. The participants of the meeting, including Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, passed a resolution stating that "the Russian State Duma decision on the de facto denunciation of the accords is a joyful event for all the working people."

"We see no violation of Ukraine's sovereignty in it, since the working people have nothing to divide," noted the statement. It also called for the "restoration of the full powers of the soviets and a course of socialist development."

Mr. Symonenko, who hosted Mr. Zyuganov on February 26 in Kyiv on the pretext of a parliamentary exchange, told close to 1,000 meeting participants (a figure reported by Interfax-Ukraine) that over the five years since the referendum, the "Soviet nations" have been "abused and humiliated" and have lost their social rights.

"In fact, Ukraine is now under the administration of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and its emissaries," he told the crowd.

Ukrainian Deputy Volodymyr Moisienko, also a Communist Party member, urged the rally participants to "extend a hand to the peoples of Russia," echoing statements made by Mr. Zyuganov during his visit to Kyiv, when he told reporters at a press conference that the "dissolution of ties between Russia and Ukraine is an anomalous phenomenon."

An evening rally on March 20 organized by the Kyiv City Organization of the Ukrainian Laborers' Union drew a few hundred workers demanding an end to Ukraine's reforms and calling for the restoration of the Soviet Union. The participants of the rally, held near the Arsenal factory, expressed support for the Russian Duma decision on the denunciation of the Belaya Vezha accord of 1991 and urged the Ukrainian Parliament to support the Russian deputies' initiative.

During his visit to Kyiv on March 19, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher pointed out that the Duma's vote "had a certain quality of intimidation," a ploy reminiscent of old Soviet tactics.

Even Parliament Speaker Oleksander Moroz told reporters on March 15 that the State Duma in Russia "has taken a purely political decision, which is null and void for Ukraine. This is an internal affair for Russia."

"We should not draw any conclusions from this decision, or take any steps," he stated, reaffirming that Ukraine is guided by the outcome of the national referendum of December 1991, in which more than 90 percent voted for independence.

However, the speaker, who is also the leader of the Socialist Party in Ukraine, said that Russia's political decision may have an impact on a certain part of Ukraine's population.

Natalia Vitrenko, a former leader of the Socialist Party who was expelled from its ranks earlier this year and subsequently formed the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, voiced her disapproval of the Duma vote. "If the point at issue is a revival of the USSR the way it once existed, I am against it, since power was then dominated by Russia. Ukraine shall not be a province," she noted.

Political forces on the Crimean peninsula pointed out that the Duma vote may exacerbate the domestic situation in Ukraine - between Ukraine and the Crimea, as well as bilateral relations between Ukraine and Russia.

Serhiy Kunitsyn, chairman of the Union in Support of the Republic of Crimea Party, told Interfax-Ukraine that "the situation in the Crimea will be aggravated by far more than in Ukraine, since certain political forces will try to capitalize on it and again spark action to hold a referendum on the status of the Crimea."

Serhiy Shuvainikov, chairman of the Russian Party of the Crimea, told the news agency that the Russian State Duma decision "stands no chance of practical implementation and cannot serve as a basis for the restoration of the USSR." He added that the resolution, in his opinion, was a political move aimed at gaining additional political dividends for Mr. Zyuganov.

"This action will serve no useful purpose for the people of Russia. The Communists are not the force that can uphold the interests of the Russian people, including those in the Crimea," he concluded.

But Crimean Communist Party leader Leonid Hrach called the March 15 decision "an important political decision at this time," adding that "time will prompt a decision to move toward a military and political union."

Mr. Hrach's colleague in the Crimean Parliament, Vasyl Kyselev, chairman of the Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of Nations) agricultural firm, who supports the creation of a union of Slavic states, noted that "the restoration of the USSR is a dream," and that the move by the Russian Duma was a "bold political step."

Mustafa Jemilev, chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, told reporters in Symferopil that the Duma decision will not further activate pro-Communist and pro-Russian forces in the Crimea.

Calling the Duma's action "political madness," Volodymyr Yavorivsky, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Ukraine, said he does not see the action as a threat to Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also responded immediately to the action by the Russian Duma, issuing a statement on March 15, which states that the resolution has no impact - political or legal - in Ukraine (see full text on page 2.)

The statement notes that the adoption of such a decision implies that Russia is withdrawing from the Commonwealth of Independent States - a move that carries unpredictable consequences. This, in turn, can cause a destablization that will affect not only the CIS countries, but the world community.

The Duma's action had prompted President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia to suggest calling an emergency CIS summit to discuss the issue of the Duma vote.

"No one should think that only Russia is concerned over this matter. The point at issue is a comeback of totalitarianism, which affects the interests of all independent states of the Commonwealth," he said in Moscow on March 19.

Interfax-Ukraine reported on March 21 that the next CIS summit will be held in Moscow as scheduled on May 17, and that CIS heads of state will then discuss the Duma resolution of March 15.

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