Ukraine's Second Revolution

In an essay written in 1990, Aleksandr Solzenitsyn predicted a "Slavic union" consisting of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus would emerge to dominate Eurasian politics. As with so many other matters of policy analysis, Mr. Solzenitsyn may be proved more correct than he expected. That will be especially true if Mr. Putin has his way in respect of Ukraine's regional divide.

For centuries Russia and Ukraine were linked inseparably. Kievan Rus was the first symbol of Russian culture. Then came the Mongols and the Tatars, and Moscow replaced Kiev as the cultural center. Under the influence of the Don Cossacks, by the mid-nineteenth century Ukraine wanted to break its bond with Russia, but the tsars had other thoughts on that topic. The fight for independence shifted from the forts to the pens of literary masters such as Ukraine's self-declared national poet Taras Shevchenko.

Ukraine did not gain sovereignty until 1918, but it lost it again in 1921. Bound more closely to Russia by the strictures of Soviet communism, Ukraine was able to claim only one CPSU Secretary-General as a citizen: Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev got his start in politics organizing workers in Kiev and Lvov. Dividing the Black Sea fleet was a major grappling point when the Soviet Union ended. Another point onf contention was removal of the nuclear weapons and warheads Russia placed in Ukraine to defend the western border.

On 8 December 1991 Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, Belarussian President Anatoli Nevtershenko, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in Minsk and declared the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Although it took Mikhail Gorbachev two and a half weeks to accept that reality, creating the Commonwealth ended the Soviet era, and Ukraine was a leading participant in that process.

In 1994 Ukraine elected a new President. Leonid Kuchma replaced Leonid Kravchuk. Mr. Kuchma was recognized clearly as the "Kremlin's candidate". Questions surfaced from some international observers about the integrity of the election, but the opposition lacked sufficient grounds to protest too vigorously. Mr. Kuchma was re-elected in 1999 with similar allegations of suspect activity, but again the basis of the charges was inadequate, and the resulting claims were dismissed as an inability to accept defeat graciously.

The 2004 election took these suspect activities and the old adage to "vote early and vote often" to entirely new levels. Polling data reveal turnout of more than 300% in some areas, and some voters cast ballots in fifteen locations during the course of the day. No court or elections authority should dare to let that result stand.

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