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Aug. 28, 1991: Russia recognizes Ukrainian independence

This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Aug. 29, 1991.

KIEV, USSR — The government of the Russian republic recognized the right of Ukraine to independence Wednesday, speeding up the political disintegration of the Soviet Union.

In a communique that referred to “the former union,” the two largest of the 15 Soviet republics agreed they will become “sovereign and independent states” and said they will set up “temporary structures” to bridge the gap between the present centralized Soviet government and independent states.

Tough questions on the economy and military were left until later. There is nothing in the agreement that prevents the two from becoming part of a new, looser confederation of several of the USSR’s republics.

Ukraine’s parliament declared independence Saturday in the wake of the failed Soviet coup. With 52 million people, Ukraine is the second biggest Soviet republic, after Russia, and is both the nation’s breadbasket and the home of much of its heavy industry.

Russia and the Soviet government already had accepted the idea of independence for such small states as the three Baltic republics. But there had been serious doubts that the Russian government of President Boris Yeltsin would let Ukraine go.

Indeed, Yeltsin’s press secretary earlier this week said Russia might claim some Ukrainian territory, especially eastern Ukraine populated by most of the 11 million Russians who work in the republic. Later, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov cited four areas of Ukraine that Russia might claim.

The Russian statements set off an excited anti-Russian reaction among Ukrainians, who believe they have lived under the Russian thumb for the last 330 years. In the wake of this, Yeltsin sent a three-man delegation, accompanied by another three men from the Soviet government, to negotiate with the Ukrainian government.

While thousands of flag-waving Ukrainians chanted outside the Ukrainian parliament, the negotiators wrangled for nine hours.

The agreement, which negotiators called not a treaty but the basis for negotiations on a treaty, had Yeltsin’s explicit blessing, Russian officials said.

The communique said both sides “recognize the right of both states to sovereignty and independence.” It said they would “take joint efforts to prevent uncontrolled disintegration” during the transition to independence. The “temporary structures” would take the place of “the former union” and guide both sides into the future.

The two sides said they would start “immediate preparations for an economic agreement” that might take one or two years to disentangle the two former Soviet republics from the binds of central planning.

Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi said they wanted to reach this economic agreement as soon as possible to avoid looming conflicts, including Ukraine’s threat to stop grain shipments to Russia and Russia’s threat to start charging world market prices, in hard currency, for its oil exports to Ukraine.

“We have to balance these mutual claims,” Rutskoi said.

They also said they would start work toward a “collective security agreement.” The Soviet army has 1.2 million troops, plus a nuclear arsenal, on Ukrainian territory, and the formation of an independent Ukrainian military out of this force is expected to be one of the trickiest points.

Both sides said this would have to be negotiated with the other 13 Soviet republics, and Yeltsin announced Wednesday that any nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil would be withdrawn to Russia in the case of independence.

Ukrainian officials said privately that they don’t want nuclear weapons, although this attitude could change once negotiations start.

The question of the border between the two republics appeared to be fudged. The two teams confirmed a 1990 treaty that fixed the present borders, but that treaty was signed within the context of a Soviet Union that no longer exists. There were predictions that this issue could be reopened, and is one of the most potentially explosive matters facing the USSR as it fragments in the aftermath of the failed coup.

Rutskoi said, “Yeltsin himself never spoke about any territorial claims.”

Last Saturday’s declaration of independence did not mean that Ukraine is independent yet. But a referendum on independence is set for Dec. 1, and officials said full independence could be a reality by the year’s end, with Ukraine then seeking international recognition as a separate state.

Russians have tended to believe that this declaration of independence was only a Ukrainian ploy to strengthen the bargaining position for some future federation agreement. That suggestion was heatedly denied by officials in Kiev, who said they were deadly serious. Foreign observers tended to agree.

“Yes, it’s no joke,” said John Hewko, a lawyer for the firm of Baker & McKenzie who is an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament. “It is an extremely serious matter.”

This Russian suspicion inflamed Ukrainian national touchiness.

At one point in the negotiations, a member of the Russian delegation, Leningrad Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, went out to talk to a Ukrainian crowd in front of the parliament.

“What is important is for us to be together,” Sobchak said. And the crowd began to boo and whistle. Ukrainians explained that they feel they have been oppressed by Russians for centuries and Sobchak’s apparently unexceptional reference to togetherness only reminded them of what they feel is Moscow’s domination of a supposedly equal union in the past.

Sobchak, clearly miffed, told reporters: “If we start confronting each other like the crowd out in front confronted me, we will lose our chance. It’s emotional, national romanticism.”

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