FOR THE RECORD

Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry reacts to Russian Duma resolution

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the occasion of the adoption of the resolution of the State Duma of the Russian Federation "On Deepening the Integration of the Peoples Who Had Been United in the USSR, and the Abolition of the Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of December 12, 1991"(This statement was released in Washington by the Embassy of Ukraine.)

On March 15, 1996, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution "On Deepening the Integration of the Peoples Who Had Been United in the USSR, and the Abolition of the Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of December 12, 1991." The above-mentioned Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of December 12, 1991, had denounced the agreement on the creation of the USSR.

With regard to the above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is authorized to state the following.

In Ukraine, the adoption of this resolution by the State Duma of the Russian Federation is assessed as an attempt by certain political circles in Russia to revive the former USSR. Hopes of reviving the former unitary state have no juridical and no international legal basis, and do not correspond to the real political situation that exists, today in both the development of independent countries that have been established on the territory of the former USSR, and in the development of the CIS at large. Ukraine condemns such actions as a threat to peace and stability not only for these countries, but for the entire world as well.

Over four years have passed since Ukraine has realized its right to self-determination pursuant to universally recognized principles and norms of international law delivered in the Charter of the United Nations and the Helsinki Final Act. The will of the Ukrainian people to create an independent Ukrainian state has achieved the highest form of legitimacy in the results of a nationwide referendum, which took place on December 1, 1991. Almost 92 percent of the population voted for Ukraine's independence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is authorized to state that the adoption by the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the above-mentioned resolution does not entail any legal consequences for Ukraine, inasmuch as it is an internal act of the Russian Federation and cannot have extraterritorial jurisdiction. In addition, the implementation of such a resolution in fact would signify the withdrawal of Russia from the Commonwealth of Independent States with all its unpredictable consequences.

Ukraine, as a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, from the very beginning of the CIS's existence has followed a course aimed at deepening and broadening equal and mutually advantageous cooperation within the framework of the Commonwealth, and consequently declares that the forms of its participation as well as its status in the Commonwealth of Independent States are determined in accordance with legislative acts adopted by the Supreme Council of Ukraine during the ratification of the agreement on the establishment of the CIS, and with relevant reservations. Ukraine will continue to act with the understanding that the establishment of the CIS permitted, under new historical conditions, the preservation of the close and multilateral ties that existed between the republics of the former Soviet Union, and that the formation of the CIS prevented the spread of dangerous tendencies on the territory of the former USSR that could lead to general instability and serious conflicts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is forced to state that in the context of continuous strengthening and deepening of bilateral as well as multilateral ties within the framework of the CIS, certain political forces in some of the member-states of the Commonwealth have taken steps that could substantively complicate the situation in the CIS. It is precisely in this manner that the above-mentioned decision of the State Duma of the Russian Federation could be considered.

Kyiv, March 15, 1996

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 24, 1996, No. 12, Vol. LXIV

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