2023-09-15 15:00:00
TRIBUNE/ANALYSIS – With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, it is necessary to go back to the origins of tensions to better understand the current situation. Besides the territories attached to Russia by Catherine II at the end of the 18th century (Crimea, the coastline between the Dniester and the Bug) and the founding of the city of Odessa by the tsarina, the history of the 20th century is not not unrelated to events that appeared in 2014 and which reached their climax in 2022 with the Russian special operation.
On August 24, Ukraine celebrates the anniversary of its independence. But was the process of exit of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from the bloc of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics legitimate at the time, on the one hand from the point of view of the legislation of the USSR itself? , and on the other hand international law?
Regarding the legislation of the USSR, a treaty is at the origin of the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On December 30, 1922, three republics signed it: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR), the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR.
Regarding international law, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 on Cooperation and Security in Europe contains explicit norms on the inviolability of existing borders and the territorial integrity of states in Europe. Despite this, numerous violations of this act have been observed, including:
The recognition in 1991 of the independence of the Ukrainian SSR, particularly by European countries and the United States;
The partition of the former Yugoslavia after its bombing in 1999 by NATO (without authorization from the UN Security Council).
The Constitution of the Soviet Union as adopted in 1977
The USSR was successively governed by three constitutions: those of 1924, 1936 and the last dating from 1977. The Constitution of the USSR contained the right to the separation of a Soviet republic from the USSR taking into account the Article 2 which provided for a decision by referendum.
The referendum was to take place no earlier than 6 months after the declaration of the desire for separation by the Supreme Soviet of the republic concerned in an appropriate document. For the Ukrainian SSR, this document, called “Act of State Independence” was adopted on August 24, 1991 following the “August putsch” 1991 in USSR.
After the adoption of this act, the question of the separation of the republic from the USSR was to be submitted to a national referendum as provided for in the Soviet Constitution subject to compliance with two obligatory conditions:
The referendum was to take place no earlier than 6 months after the question of separation of a republic from the USSR was raised (i.e. no earlier than February 24, 1992 for Ukraine)
The question which was the subject of the referendum was to be formulated as follows: “for or against the separation of the republic from the USSR”
These two conditions were violated by the organizers of the referendum in Ukraine:
The referendum was held on December 1, 1991, which did not correspond to the planned deadline;
The wording of the question was “on the recognition of the Act of State Independence”. In this regard, we must recall the result of the referendum of March 17, 1991 where the majority of Ukrainian inhabitants (70.2%) voted in favor of remaining in the USSR.
Lack of legal basis
As such, the results of the Ukrainian referendum of December 1991 have no legal basis due to the lack of application of the legal norms in force at the time.
It should also be noted that, according to Article 14 of the Constitution of the USSR, if a Union republic seceding from the USSR fulfilled the conditions of the procedure established by law, it must leave the Soviet Union exactly within its initial borders. However, before joining the USSR, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic did not understand:
Ukraine therefore left the Soviet Union by violating the procedure established by legislation and illegally annexing land they could not claim.
The Belovej Agreement of 1991
Ukraine with 15 new states was created in its current form on December 8, 1991 as a continuation of the fall of the USSR following the agreement signed in Belovejskaya Pushcha (Belarus). This agreement declared the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and admitted the borders between the Soviet republics as state borders.
However, the question of the legitimacy of the recognition of the former Soviet republics as independent states in terms of international law still remains open due to the violation of the laws of the USSR in force at the time of signing the agreement from Belovej.
Many jurists still claim today that the approval of the Belovej document by the Supreme Soviet is illegitimate because it contravenes more than thirty articles of the Constitution of the Soviet Union in force at the time (that of 1977).
Likewise, the treaty on the formation of the USSR, signed on December 30, 1922, which was denounced by the signatories of the Belovej Agreement did not have direct legal value. Indeed, the Constitution of the USSR adopted in 1977 did not contain a reference to this document (like the two other previous constitutions of 1924 and 1936).
The Budapest Memorandum of 1994
Through the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine transferred nuclear weapons inherited from the USSR and based on its territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees, including respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity by countries nuclear.
However, this memorandum has not been ratified by any signatory country and therefore has no legal value. In addition, the question of respect for Ukraine’s current sovereignty arises with regard to:
From the 2014 coup that overthrew the democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, a coup supported among others by the CIA, the US State Department (Victoria Nuland) and the US Ambassador to Ukraine (Jeffrey Pyatt) ;
From the current foreign interference in Ukraine and the submission of the Kiev regime to NATO diktat (notably after Boris Johnson’s visits to Kiev in 2022 in order to foil attempts at peace with Russia).
Other economic and geopolitical elements
It should also be remembered that:
Russia assumed the debts of the collapsed USSR and thus allowed Ukraine to default on its debts from its Soviet and earlier period;
NATO made an oral commitment, which was transcribed, not to extend to Eastern countries after the reunification of Germany in October 1990, as confirmed The mirror;
Ukraine had assured Russia of its neutrality upon its independence.
In conclusion, the haste and the feeling of “victory” of the West displayed at the fall of the USSR were one of the main seeds of the current conflict in Ukraine. The reference to the international right claimed in particular by the West with reference to the present situation is made in complete hypocrisy and in application of the infamous maxim of “double standards”.
As such, realism among the international community should prevail and the position of the Russian Federation, instead of being rejected mainly by the West, should be analyzed in the light of the previously cited elements.
*Catherine Roman is French and lived in Russia for a few years. She works in the numbers sector and is passionate about geopolitics and economic intelligence.
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