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Home , Boris Yeltsin, Glasnost

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PERESTROIKA AND

Introduction

Between the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution and 1985, with the coming to power of , relatively little happened in terms of state building and confl ict resolution in the USSR. eTh was fi rmly established. Th e period between 1985 and 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev was First Secretary of the Soviet Union, is a period of transition towards more openness. Th ere was a call for more internal self-determination in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and this period eventually ended with the of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev Comes to Power: Th e Period 1985–1991

Aft er Mikhail Gorbachev had come to power in the USSR in 1985 poli- tics in the Soviet Union had changed. More openness and transparency would make the ruling of the USSR better. Gorbachev called his pol- icy instruments (reconstruction) and glasnost (publicity).1 While in several areas of politics, internal as well as external, policy changed, this also had an impact on the diff erent laws which held the USSR together.

Perestroika and its Results A Soviet law, adopted on 3 April 1990, dealt with the procedure for secession of Soviet Republics. Although a right to secession had always been part of the federal structure of the USSR, there had not been lower legislation than the Constitution, giving provisions to eff ectuate this right. A reason for the creation of this law was the declaration of

1 M. Gorbatsjov, Perestrojka, Een Nieuwe Visie voor mijn Land en de Wereld, (Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 1987). 208 chapter thirteen the independence of . In order to make it more compli- cated to leave the Soviet Union the procedure was labour and time- consuming. On 12 June 1990 the Russian Federal Congress of People’s Depu- ties adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty. At the same time discussions were held by the USSR Federal Council on the plan for a new union treaty. On 24 November 1990 a fi rst draft of a USSR Union treaty was published. Its aim was to replace the Union Treaty of 1922. Perestroika and glasnost demanded for modifi cations of the cur- rent political organization. Th e internal political situation worsened quickly in 1990 and the beginning of 1991. Th is led to the resignation of as Minister of Foreign Aff airs, who was frus- trated by the lack of support by Gorbachev. On 12 June 1991 was elected as president of the RSFSR. Work on the Union Treaty continued. Two days before the fourth draft of the treaty was published, on 15 August, Prime Minister Pavlov warned of a power vacuum aft er the treaty would be signed. A coup d’etat started on 18 August 1991 when a delegation of state and party offi cials confronted Gorbachev in his Crimean retreat. On Radio Vice President Yanaev and the “State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR” had announced that they were taking over power. Th e coup failed due to Boris Yeltsin, who ordered a general strike and signed Decree No. 59 ordering not to execute orders of the Committee and defi ning that groups activities as a coup d’état. Aft er four days the coup was over, but it had an important political impact. Due to the political developments no Union Treaty was necessary any longer. Th e role of the communist party was over, and between 20 August and 22 September Estonia, , , , , Georgia, , , Uzbekistan, Tajik- istan, and declared independence. Lithuania had already declared independence in March 1990. A month earlier, on 24 August 1991, Michael Gorbachev had already resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was replaced by Boris Yeltsin. On 8 December 1991 , Ukraine and Belarus signed in the nature preserve Byeloveshkie Pushcha an agreement creating the Com- monwealth of Independent States (CIS). Th is act of separatism led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Th e preamble stated that the Soviet Union “as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality no longer exists”. Th e CIS expanded to 11 members (excluding Georgia