GW ISSN 001— 0545 Y 23027 F JANUARY—APRIL 1992 ABN NOS. 1-2; VOL XLIH CORRESPONDENCE Freedom for Nations! Freedom for Individuals! Ken Coates Nationalism & the Future of the Commonwealth of Independent States Lubomyr Luciuk Even in the Unlikely E vent... Roman Zwarycz Ex Oriente Lux Steven Mosher Storm Clouds over Medjogorge David C. Isby Arms Deliveries to Kabul; 1989-1991 Dildora Damisch Uzbekistan as it Enters 1992 Les Taniuk Ukraine—Sprinter or Stayer? Statement on Ukraine’s Armed Forces ABN Conference— 17th February, 1992—USA Final Communique o f the Conference of Ukrainian Nationalists—Kyiv, Ukraine—March, 1992 Manifesto of the Conference of Ukrainian Nationalists 1992 WLFD Executive Meeting & Freedom Day ABN Report Report o f a Technical Mission to the Baltic Republics CONTENTS ABN Conference 17th February, 1992 U S A ...........................................................................................4 Ken Coates: Nationalism & the Future o f the Commonwealth of Independent States . 5 Roman Zwarycz: Ex Oriente L u x ....................................................................................................................8 Lubomyr Luciuk: Even in the Unlikely Event..........................................................................................14 Steven Mosher: Storm Clouds over M ed ju gorge..................................................................................20 David C, Isby: Arms Deliveries to Kabul; 1989-1992 . ....................................................... 22 Dildora Damisch: Uzbekistan as it Enters 1992 .................................................................................. 25 Final Communique of the Conference of Ukrainian Nationalists....................................................... 27 Manifesto o f the Conference of Ukrainian Nationalists.........................................................................29 1992 WLFD Executive Meeting & Freedom D a y ...................................................................................... 32 ABN R e p o r t ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Report o f the Technical Mission to the Baltic R e p u b l i c s ................................................................ 36 Estonian Food Rationing B e g i n s .................................................................................................................41 Council of Estonia Tells Supreme Council to Begin Election Preparations or Get Out of the Way ....................................................................................................42 Norwegian Superspy Arne Treholt: a Legend of the K G B ................................................................ 43 Les Taniuk: Ukraine— Sprinter or S t a y e r ? ...........................................................................................44 Human Rights Violations in the New G e o r g i a ..................................................................................46 Victor TH. Tsuan: In Celebrating the Independence of Ukraine (a p o e m ) .....................................47 Tartarstan: a Nation Struggling for Independence..................................................................................48 Laotian Students Demand Release of Political Prisoners in Homeland..............................................49 Freedom for Nations! Freedom for Individuals! ABN CORRESPONDENCE BULLETIN OF THE ANTI-BOLSHEVIK BLOC OF NATIONS Publisher and Owner (Verleger und Inha­ It is not our practice to pay for contribut­ ber): American Friends of the Anti-Bolshevik ed materials. Reproduction permitted only Bloc of Nations (AF ABN), 136 Second Avenue, with indication of source (ABN Corr.). New York, N.Y. 10003, USA. Annual subscription: 27 Dollars in the Zweigstelle Deutschland: A. Dankiw, USA, and the equivalent of 27 US Dollars in Zeppelinstr. 67, 8000 München 80. all other countries. Remittances to Deutsche Editorial Staff: Board of Editors Bank, Munich, Neuhauser Str. 6, Account Editor-in-Chief: Mrs. Slava Stetsko, M.A. No. 3021003, Anna Dankiw. Zeppelinstr. 67 Schriftleitung: Redaktionskollegium. 8000 München 80 Verantw. Redakteur Frau Slava Stetzko. West Germany Zeppelinstraße 67 Articles signed with name or pseudonym 8000 München 80 do not necessarily reflect the Editor’s opinion, Telefon: 48 25 32 but that of the author. Manuscripts sent in un­ Telefax 48 65 19 requested cannot be returned in case of non­ publication unless postage is enclosed. Druck: Druckgenossenschaft “Cicero” e.G., Zeppelinstraße 67, 8000 München 80. STATEMENT ON UKRAINE’S ARMED FORCES Following the unprecedented referendum in Ukraine on December 1,1991, in which over 91% of the voting public of this former colony of Moscow voted in favour of Ukrainian independence, it has become clear that the USSR, i.e., the Soviet-Russian empire, has ceased to exist, both de jure and de facto. Ukraine had proclaimed its inde­ pendence, on August 24 following the aborted coup of the last of the empire’s caretakers. Subsequently, Ukraine’s government had taken several concrete steps towards solidify­ ing its newly-forged status as a democratic and sovereign nation-state that is ready to take its rightful place among the sovereign nation-states of the world. One of the essential attributes of statehood is a military force that is completely loyal and fully subordinate to the government of that state. Without armed forces, full state­ hood and sovereignty can not be attained. This basic principle of international law was the primary consideration behind the legislation which was passed by the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet also on August 24 that called for the creation of Ukrainian Armed Forces and according to which all Soviet military personnel stationed on sovereign Ukrainian soil was to become exclusively subordinate to the Ukrainian government and to its democratically-elected President, who in turn became the Commander-in-Chief of all military forces deployed in Ukraine. Following the December 1 referendum, Ukraine together with Belarus and the Russian Federation entered into a hastily prepared arrangement calling for the creation of a “Commonwealth of Independent States.” Under no circumstances was this new agree­ ment to take the place of the defunct “union treaty” that was forced upon Ukraine and the other non- Russian “republics” of the former Soviet Union - a “treaty” that the Ukrainian referendum had rendered null and void. The Minsk and subsequent Alma-Ata agreements were designed to help the newly-independent states of the former USSR undergo a peaceful process of transition, as equal partners, from their former colonial status (in the case of the non-Russian “republics”) to newly-forged statehood. The com­ plex web of economic and political/administrative intra-relations, that was the legacy of many decades of Soviet-Russian totalitarian rule, needed to be disentangled. Paraphrasing Russian president Boris Yeltsin, the “Commonwealth” was not to be regarded as a state, or even a suprastate entity. The events that immediately followed the Alma-Alta conference, however, and par­ ticularly the unilateral actions of the Russian government, which had proclaimed itself the legal heir to the former USSR, cast serious doubts on the genuine sincerity of President Yeltsin’s statement. With the Russian government taking over most of the “all-union” structures, as well as the assets of the dismembered empire, it became painfully clear to the leaders of Ukraine and some of the other independent states, that the Russian Federation - a euphemism for what essentially remains a “mini-empire”, in which many smaller, non-Russian peoples continue to languish in colonial servitude - intended to establish for itself a predominant position within the “Commonwealth”. Moreover, the overtly hostile policy utterances on the part of the Russian President and Vice-President Rutskoi regarding Ukraine’s territory, its economy and military forces stationed there, were particularly alarming. On the one hand, Russia refused to share the assets of the former USSR, to which the non-Russian “republics” contributed, or more precisely - were forced to “contribute” in line with Moscow’s policy of colonial exploita­ 1 tion, while - on the other hand - demanding that the other former colonies of the. Soviet Union “share” the huge debt that the USSR had incurred in building a vast military com­ plex through which Moscow kept its colonies in check. No where was this condescend­ ing, and at times overtly chauvinistic Russian attitude more evident than in matters con­ cerning the military. Leading figures in the Russian government and the military establishment tried to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the world by suggesting that Ukraine’s plans to build an armed forces on its territory would be in violation of the Vienna Agreement that required significant cut-backs in conventional forces and, hence, constituted a grave threat to global peace and security. In fact, the Ukrainian government’s plans to build an armed forces out of former Soviet military personnel, that would number no more than 450,000 soldiers, actually represents a reduction in conventional military strength of 64%, a fig­ ure that is much larger than what was projected in Vienna. Moreover, the Ukrainian government expressly stated that its projected plans to build an armed forces were strict­ ly defensive in nature. The government also guaranteed that