More Top Picks Telescopes
player ready...Continuing his grab for power, Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Sunday proposed a radical restructuring of the Soviet Union that would minimize the role of Mikhail Gorbachev and reduce the USSR to a loose confederation of nine republics.
In a televised interview, Yeltsin outlined his vision of a new Soviet Union to replace the Communist nation that is rapidly dissolving along with the party that controlled it for the last 74 years.
Yeltsin`s concept accepts the independence of six of the Soviet Union`s existing 15 republics-the three Baltic republics plus Armenia, Georgia and Moldavia. His vision might not be possible without the membership of Ukraine, which declared its independence as the USSR itself continued to unravel.
But the new confederation he proposed would include Russia, the nation`s dominant republic, which Yeltsin heads.
The charismatic leader`s proposal for independence in the Baltics will undoubtedly be well-received in the West. Although uneasy over the turmoil that might be created by the breakup of the Soviet Union, European nations already have raced to recognize Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the three Baltic states.
U.S. officials say the Bush administration probably won`t be far behind the Europeans.
But few Western leaders have yet to assess the immense policy implications of Yeltsin`s proposal for a smaller but deeply troubled confederation armed with one of the world`s most deadly nuclear arsenals.
Even as Yeltsin spoke Sunday night on Russian TV, the Soviet Union hurtled futher toward dismemberment as the republic of Byelorussia declared its independence. Moldavia has scheduled a similar proclamation for Tuesday.
However, actions taken by those two republics, as well as by Ukraine, the USSR`s second most important region, appear to be negotiating positions that could be altered or rescinded if the terms of a new union meet with the approval of their populations.
Yeltsin`s view of a restructured nation was delivered during a nationwide television interview, and it becomes the most likely course of Soviet development because Yeltsin has become not only the USSR`s most popular politician, but its most powerful.
Yeltsin, who is president of the giant Russian Republic, said last week`s coup was timed to abort the Aug. 20 signing of a new Union Treaty in which the Kremlin would cede important powers to the republics by forming a confederation of sovereign states.
Even though the coup was shattered by Yeltsin and thousands of citizens who refused to comply with the eight-member junta, Yeltsin said ”the Union Treaty is in question . . . the union government is a big question.”
Yeltsin made it clear that the role played by independence-minded republics in saving the union now allowed them to dictate terms of the new relationship with Moscow, and he declared, ”There will not be a treaty of confederation.”
Instead, Yeltsin said, the leaders of the nine republics most likely to sign a new union compact would be brought ”into a security council to deal with strategic questions.”
Economic relationships would naturally flow among members of this new union, but Yeltsin has many times before stressed that similarly strong financial ties would be maintained with former Soviet republics that have chosen the path to independence.
It appeared that Yeltsin was describing a relationship akin to what the European Community is hoping to achieve by respecting the sovereignty of the nations of Western Europe while linking them in political, economic and national security councils.
If Yeltsin`s vision becomes a reality, then the role of Gorbachev, now the all-union president, would be reduced to something like the coordinator`s role of the EC chairman, which is far less important than the leadership roles exercised by member states such as England, France or Germany.
But as Yeltsin continues his grab for powers formerly exercised by Gorbachev, it would not be impossible that this all-union coordinator`s role envisioned for the national president might be added to responsibilities of the Russian leader himself.
The policy implications for the United States are immense, since whoever leads the new Soviet Union will inherit a nation reduced in territory, shackled by a Third World-style economy, robbed of such traditional tools of public order as the Communist Party-but still armed with nuclear weapons.
The Soviet Union`s general command structure for the military is being purged in the aftermath of the bungled coup, the country`s new defense minister announced Sunday.
”Eighty percent of the command will be renewed,” said Gen. Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, appointed to fill the position of Dmitry Yazov, the defense minister now under arrest for his role in the putsch.
He said the new officer corps will be more professional, less political and unlikely to participate in an anti-constitutional overthrow of the government.
In discussing the future Soviet government, Yeltsin acknowledged the importance of Ukraine, an agricultural and industrial power with a population of 52 million people.
He said that only if the southwestern republic chooses to join a new union would Russia also join; without both of these two Slavic regions adding their signatures to a union treaty, there could be no Soviet Union.
”If Ukraine agrees to sign a union treaty, we will sign,” Yeltsin said. In a bold action, the Ukrainian parliament on Saturday declared independence and approved decrees to mint its own currency and take command of all Soviet military units on its soil.
More Top Picks Panasonic Kx Tgd532w
Ukraine commands the strategic Soviet border in the southwest, as well as along the crucial Black Sea access routes, and independence would, conceivably, give the republic a 1.5 million-member armed force-one of the largest standing armies in Europe.
Although an independent Ukraine would form a home-defense force, it would be unlikely that the huge Soviet military arsenal now stationed there would remain in the territory.
Lithuania announced it will take control of its own territory on Monday, and plans to open its first independent border with Poland on Sept. 1.
”It`s very obvious we have to do this quickly, because our borders are the last obstacle to independence,” said Rita Dapkus, spokeswoman for the Lithuania parliament. ”Now, recognition is basically a technicality.”
Yeltsin recognized the sovereignty of Lithuania following its declaration of independence in March 1990, and on Saturday gave similar recognition to Latvia and Estonia-and called on Gorbachev to do the same.
The Baltics were snared in the Soviet sphere of influence under a secret pact between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin at the start of World War II.
The treaty has never been accepted by the family of nations.
Iceland, Norway and Denmark have formally recognized the Baltic republics, while France, Germany and Belgium are among the other powers pressuring the European Community for joint EC recognition.
”For all practical purposes, Yeltsin is the presidential head of the country running things,” said Dapkus, contacted by telephone in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. ”Yeltsin has recognized us, and basically the world`s policies have to follow suit. Gorbachev is like Rip van Winkle.”