The Russian State Duma Special Commission on the Impeachment of the President has requested that at its next hearing in mid-August testimony from the political figures who drew up and signed the Belovezh Accords in 1991, Commission Chairman Vadim Filomonov informed Interfax. Among those invited are the then leaders of Ukraine and Belarus Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich. The Day's Tetiana Shulhach asked Ukraine's first President to comment on this proposal. Mr. Kravchuk replied:
I don't know about foreign citizens being invited to take part in some or other hearings. I would say, however, that Mr. Yeltsin's alleged crimes and his "renunciation" are all internal affairs. And, of course, I have nothing to do with Russian internal affairs whatsoever.
Personally, I am convinced that Mr. Yeltsin has never betrayed Russia. First, because, Mr. Yeltsin, just like me and Mr. Shushkevich, along with all the others present at Belovezhskaya Pushcha and later in Almaty, acted in strict accordance with the Soviet Constitution which had it in black and white that all nations have the right to self-determination, including secession. As for how this right was exercised, what procedures were used and for what reasons, all this was determined by the historical situation that had developed. For me as President of Ukraine, this was warranted by the 1991 referendum when over 90% of citizens of Ukraine, of all ethnic groups, voted for the national independence of Ukraine. In other words, we had that constitutional right, just as we had reasons and causes, and those causes are evidence that we exercised our right in full measure.
Secondly, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Accords were signed by presidents. The Russian and the Ukrainian Constitution says that the President has the right to sign any international treaties which are then submitted for approval by Parliament and are enacted only if properly ratified. Again, all this was done in strict conformity with the Fundamental Law. The Ukrainian, Russian, Belarus Parliaments (and others, after Almaty) ratified the accords. In other words, proper actions were performed in the national interest.
Then tell me how can anyone accuse Boris Yeltsin of high treason? If he is guilty, then so is the entire Supreme Council of Russia and those of all those other countries. Now this is absurd. One other thing. Boris Yeltsin was reelected as President and by voting for him the Russian people determined that he had committed no crimes at Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Yes, I would go to Moscow if they invited me, I could even sit on that committee, but under only one condition: Boris Yeltsin should be there, too, and he should ask me to come. Then we would meet like we did at Belovezhskaya Pushcha, except that this time it would be Russian Duma. Otherwise I would never go, because I consider the whole thing ridiculous.
Why would I go if I did? To appear before them all and tell them who organized the GKChP coup and what happened afterward, who was behind the man-made famines, purges, and wars. I would say why not make these people responsible or maybe they should face another International Tribunal and answer for what happened in the former Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991.
Photo by Yerema Lukatsky, archive of The Day:
Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk in the Crimea







