Peninsula of Failures

Seven years ago Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR legalized the foundations of Crimean autonomy. Maybe the then deputies did not quite understand what they were doing. Now some have regrets and call the 1991 move a mistake.

And how! The Crimean ASSR turned itself into the Crimean Republic and in May 1992 wrote in its Constitution the delegated powers word for word of a "temporal, legal, and democratic state" that was part of Ukraine.

Half a year later they slightly amended this Constitution, but in generally everything remained in place. Then came the laws on divergence privileges, one-channel system of budget interrelations that was fulfilled afterwards, and even its own president. Who or where it all started and stop doesn't matter, but it seems that if the Crimea hadn't elected Yuri Meshkov President and Rossiya bloc to the Parliament on the cusp of 1993-1994, the situation might have been different. Pro-Russian forces in the Crimea have become a real present for official Kyiv.

The record of the Rossiya bloc and its leaders is impressive: there is practically nothing left in the Crimea. Abrogation of the Constitution, removal of presidency as an institution, abolition of budget interrelations are all steps on "great path" of Crimean autonomy. Gradual limitation of delegated powers, one of the stages of which became the situation in Yalta, where Kyiv authorities ostensibly demonstrated its attitude toward the peninsular regime, and approval of the law in Verkhovna Rada on the Crimean Autonomous Republic (now every citizen can be elected to it, and to reside in Crimea for this is not necessary) are evidence that nobody in Kyiv seems to think of what might happen in one, two, or ten years.

It is interesting that today after seven years it has become clear: while many a man claimed and will claim the role of father of the republic, nobody has stepped forward as peacemaker for the seditious peninsular. This is not strange, for a critical mass in Crimean cauldron is still in the process of accumulating.

Leonid Grach, leader of Crimean communists, has stressed the "world historical significance" of the oblast party committee in establishing Crimean autonomy. Former Crimean President Yuri Meshkov also stressed his "direct" participation its birth. And hence today it appears that Russian-speaking electorate, and this is about 80% of local voters, has been divided between the Communists and Soyuz Party (Union, a very symbolic name). Russia's influence on the situation in Ukraine on the eve of elections, whether here or there, should make the authorities think. If only they have something to do it with. The Crimean Tartars were the only group opposed to Crimean autonomy both then and now. And not because they do not need the autonomy. They need but their own national one. But Ukrainian leaders prefer not to think about this today, perhaps thinking the problem might settle itself. And if we try to predict the future in Crimea based on the interaction of these two political forces in the coming years, it becomes clear that the search for peacemakers in the Crimea today is rather premature. Or too late.