The leaders of the largest Soviet socialist republics met and agreed to go their separate ways.
The largest of the republics and a key player in the negotiations was, of course, Russia.
At that time, by peaceful mutual agreement, the already established borders of the republics became recognized international borders of independent countries.
Russia did not “cede” any territory, Russia became an independent state, responsible for its own affairs, in exactly the same way other countries became independent states responsible for their own affairs.
What followed was difficult, a tough process of disarming these states from nuclear weapons stockpiles was handled by providing certain guarantees, in Ukraine’s case these guarantees were set out in the Budapest Memorandum, to which Russia was an honest and willing signatory.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was not something that was engineered by any outside player, it was an internal process that also happily resulted in a much needed easing of tensions between the USSR and the rest of the world.
Treaties were signed, aid was given, democracies should have followed however in too many cases the people who grabbed hold of power at that time, and later, had personal gain at the forefront of their mind rather than state building.
In Ukraine today, at last, we see a ruling authority that are genuinely committed to state building. They are not beyond criticism, frequently they deserve criticism, but they are regarded by many renowned economists and other wise heads as being the most reform minded government in the post-Soviet history of Ukraine.
One of the reasons why Ukraine’s government is reforming so much, and at an almost unprecedented pace (still too slow for some, admittedly) is that the post-Viktor Yanukovych authorities understand that their mandate to lead the country comes from the people, after the people of Ukraine spent over three months insisting on a change with bravery and dignity.
The government and Presidential Administration act now in accordance with the peaceful demands of civil society. Democracy, in its simplest form, is nothing more than a consensus reached through national dialogue. This reality, like the breakup of the Soviet Union, is not the result of the work of any outside forces, just Ukrainians managing their own affairs and insisting on their elected officials being accountable for their actions.
As an observer, it is plain to see for most rational people that Russia has some issues that need to be considered. They are internal issues, for Russian people to deal with, I have an opinion, but I do not get a say. I can only express my very sincere wish that Russian people go about addressing their internal questions in peace and that they may bring about the improvements needed in their country with peaceful discourse and without bloodshed or, worse still, loss of life.
It is up to the people of Russia to decide how or if they bring about change. Only they can decide if corruption is something that they need to make a stand against for themselves, or if they’re simply fed up of watching their infrastructure crumble while state budgets are plundered. If Russians deem that the income from the natural resources that are abundant there should be used for financing hospitals and roads and schools instead of contributing to the already massive personal wealth of a connected few people, well, that’s Russia’s business. I may have an opinion, to which I am entitled, but I am not entitled to act in any way. I’ll state for the record though that I have great admiration for Russian people, and respect for Russia’s cultural heritage and traditions.
It is also my sincere wish that Ukraine and Russia can be the brotherly nations that they should be.
But, while Russian people need to look at the situation within their own borders, they also need to respect the fact that what is not within their borders is not their business, and they are not entitled to act. Ukraine, within the internationally recognized borders that came with the peaceful dissolution of the USSR, is not Russia, and events within Ukraine are to be addressed by Ukrainian people. It is fairly simple to state that in the same way that Russian people do not want (and should not have) any external players interfering in their sovereign affairs, Ukraine is absolutely entitled to the very same thing.
The people of eastern Ukraine are good people. The vast majority of them are hard working and considerate. They are parts of family units like yours or mine, everybody is somebody’s son or daughter, many are fathers or mothers. They work hard to care for their families but at the time of Ukraine’s revolution their biggest daily problems were due to corruption, and their often unsafe working environments were the result of greed. They should be benefiting now from the positive changes and reforms being made in the rest of Ukraine – in fact, as Ukrainian citizens, they are entitled to benefit from this. Instead, they have war, and not a war that came to be because of any real internal disputes, but a war that was brought upon them by external players.
The point is this, if eastern Ukrainians really wanted any of this, call it separatism of federalization or autonomy or anything else, they could damn well do it by themselves and they would not need a single Russian person on their territory to create it for them. Not one. In two oblasts that were once home to 6.6 million people more than enough man power (and formidable woman power!) could have been found to make their case without needing a single Russian soldier, whether serving or pretending not to be. There are estimated to be 800 tanks in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk held by force, there was no need for one tank if a significant majority or even a significant minority of actual local people came together making reasonable demands with one voice. Where did those tanks come from? An external player.
Russian people need to work out for themselves how or if they wish to deal with their internal issues, it is their business, but they must do that within the borders of their own country. Ukraine as it has existed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union is not Russia, not a single part of it belongs to Russia and Russia is not entitled to participate in what are domestic Ukrainian issues. They may have an opinion, but that is very strictly where it ends.
The war in eastern Ukraine is being fueled, supplied and manned by Russian citizens and it is being sensationalized and distorted by Russian media. There is no historical argument that makes any of this right, or acceptable. There is no moral high ground in “helping” people who had made no request for help, the latest people being “helped” live in Debaltseve, Shirokina, Mariinka, Pisky, what are they being “helped” towards? Their lives and homes are being destroyed and not a single one of the people there ever asked to become a part of any D or L “NR” as far as I am aware. Who is expanding this conflict beyond lines drawn on a map many months ago? An external player.
This is not geopolitics, this is common sense and it is the basis on which countries should interact. 6 years ago next month a man called Harry Patch died, he was the last remaining British person to have fought in World War I. At the time the British newspaper The Independent called him “the man who reminded the modern world of its filthy slaughter”. Mr. Patch once said “war is organized murder, and nothing else.”
Without external influences there would be no war in Ukraine. There never was any call for separatism in eastern Ukraine, the people of Ukraine got on with their daily lives and lived together in peace. Ending corruption was never an internal catalyst for this war.
