Gorbachev by Mikhail Gorbachev

Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History/Europe/Eastern
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2011-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

For me, as president of the country, the chief criterion in assessing this document is to what extent it corresponds to the interests of our citizens’ security and to the tasks of overcoming the present crisis and preserving the state system while continuing democratic change.

This agreement has positive aspects.

The Ukrainian leadership, which recently had not been active in the treaty process, did take part in this agreement.

The document stresses the need to create a single economic space operating on agreed-on principles, with a single currency and a single financial and banking system. Willingness to collaborate in the fields of science, education, culture, and other areas was expressed. A certain formula for military-strategic coordination was proposed.

However, this document is of such significance and so profoundly affects the interests of the peoples, the nations and nationalities of our country, and the entire international community that it requires a further, comprehensive political and legal evaluation.

In any case, the following is clear: The agreement bluntly declares an end to the existence of the USSR. Undeniably each republic has the right to secede from the Union, but the fate of the multinational state cannot be determined by the will of the leaders of three republics. This question should be decided only by constitutional means with the participation of all the sovereign states and taking into account the will of all their citizens.

The statement that Unionwide legal norms would cease to be in effect is also illegal and dangerous; it can only worsen the chaos and anarchy in society.

The hastiness with which the document appeared is also cause for concern. It was not discussed by the populations nor by the Supreme Soviets of the republics in whose name it was signed. Even worse, it appeared at the moment when the draft treaty for a Union of Sovereign States, drafted by the USSR State Council, was being discussed by the parliaments of the republics.

In the situation that has arisen, it is my profound conviction that all the Supreme Soviets of the republics and the USSR Supreme Soviet need to discuss both the draft treaty for the Union of Sovereign States and the accord concluded in Minsk. To the extent that a different form of state system is proposed in the accord—a matter that should come under the jurisdiction of the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies—it is necessary to convene that congress. In addition, I would not rule out holding a nationwide referendum (a plebiscite) on this question.

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