This day in history

1926: A monument to Taras Shevchenko is unveiled in Poltava.

1937: A law is enacted in the USSR, forbidding peasants to leave collective farms unless they are under contract with another employer, thus depriving them of the freedom of movement.

1991: A referendum on the preservation of the USSR as a federation of equal republics is held, with 70.16 percent of the residents of Ukraine voting for its preservation and 80.17 percent for Ukraine to remain a member of the USSR, in accordance with the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.

1995: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine abolishes the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, recognizes the legitimacy of the Crimean Parliament, suspends budget appropriations for the bodies of state authority formed and functioning contrary to Ukrainian legislation, and passes the bill “On the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea.”