Russia’s assault overnight made me realize how little I know about how Ukraine gained its independence from the former Soviet Union. I suspect I’m not the only one. Hence this special edition of the newsletter.
I reached out to Thom Shanker, who was assigned to Tribune’s Moscow bureau from 1985-1988, and spent a brief tour as Pentagon correspondent before returning to the Moscow bureau from 1990-1992. He subsequently covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and then returned to Chicago to write for the Editorial Page and then serve as Foreign Editor.
He joined The New York Times in 1997, spending 13 years as Pentagon correspondent, with extensive time embedded with American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. His final post at The Times was Deputy Washington Editor, managing coverage of the military, diplomacy and veterans’ affairs.
Since June 2021, he has served as director of the Project for Media and National Security at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs.
What follows is my short Q&A with Shanker, conducted earlier today via email.
— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
Q&A with Thom Shanker: Covering Ukraine’s path to independence
Can you please describe what it was like to be in Ukraine and Russia in 1991, during the fall of the Soviet Union?
Shanker: “The baiduhai sent me to Moscow in 1985, early in the leadership tenure of Mikhail Gorbachev, and I left after the coup attempt of August 1991 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union over Christmas of that year.
I will never forget the August night standing on the traffic roundabout in front of the KGB headquarters, a short walk from the Kremlin, when pro-democracy protesters pulled down the statue of Felix Dzerzhinski, the despised founder of the Soviet secret police. That image has been seen since when despots were toppled in places like Baghdad, but nobody thought it ever would be possible in the capital of the Soviet Empire.
In the days and weeks after the coup plotters were rousted and Gorbachev returned to power, the constituent republics of the Soviet Union each moved toward independence — the death of the USSR. Ukraine’s independence certainly was significant to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as it was the ‘breadbasket of the USSR,’ was home to an important naval fleet with a warm-water port and was a vital source of natural resources.
And when Boris Yeltsin navigated the path to leadership of a newly independent (and aspirationally democratic) Russia — well, everyone thought the world had rounded a historic corner. And it all happened with minimal violence and loss of life. There was such hope … which turned out to be unfounded as Putin came to power and consolidated power and became what has been named ‘the new tsar.'”
What are your thoughts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overnight? Is it anything familiar to what you experienced in that region more than 30 years ago?
Shanker: “Perhaps I am cynical, but I always expected some type of military action. Putin has the advantages of proximity (of geography and of forces). He sees Ukraine as an existential issue for his legacy. He has what the military calls ‘escalation dominance’ — in other words, he controls what happens, and when, and how much. Not one of those is true for the US or NATO, understandably. So why would he not act?
To be sure, no American forces will be deployed into Ukraine, but this could turn into a long and bloody and grinding conflict for Russia. But Putin’s leadership survived the Chechnya campaigns, which also were bloody and grinding and heartbreaking. Ukraine has a large military of active-duty troops and reservists, very educated and patriotic. But the Russian military has far better training and far better equipment. Heartbreak and bloodshed are certain to follow this invasion.”
How do you believe history will remember Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Shanker: “The national security lesson of the last 20 years for the United States is that invasions and occupations do not go well in the long run. Afghanistan and Iraq should be more than mere military footnotes for Putin and his inner circle. They likely are predictive.
It is heartbreaking to see the twisting of history by the Kremlin to justify this military action. Ukraine was not created by Russia, as Putin has claimed. True, it has a long history of cultural ties to Russia, as the birthplace of the Eastern Orthodox faith. But Ukraine voted overwhelmingly for independence from the USSR in 1991 — I witnessed that. That was a free expression of the will of the Ukrainian people, which Putin is now trying to overturn by force.
Ukraine also voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons, and so Putin’s claims of a desire to attain nuclear arms is false. And Ukraine was not going to join NATO anytime soon — maybe never. So the Kremlin’s expressed concern about that also is a ruse.”
How the Tribune covered Ukraine’s path to independence
April 28, 1986: Soviet Union admits nuclear accident at Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine two days prior
MOSCOW — A nuclear accident damaged a reactor at a giant atomic power plant in Ukraine, the Soviet Union said Monday, sending a radioactive cloud more than 1,000 miles to Scandinavia. Western diplomats feared a high death toll at the site.
Sept. 28, 1989: Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev removes Ukrainian Communist Party leader Vladimir Shcherbitsky from power
MOSCOW — The conservative chief of the Ukrainian Communist Party lost his position as boss of the Soviet Union’s strongest political machine Thursday to a progressive protege of President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Gorbachev had sharply criticized the dictatorial style of the ousted official, Vladimir Shcherbitsky, who ran the Ukraine and its 50 million people with an iron hand for 17 years.
(Editor’s note: Some Ukrainians blamed Shcherbitsky for covering up the radiation damage from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, for restraining the local news media, and for the arrests and harassment of dissidents. Read more.)
July 16, 1990: Ukraine declares sovereignty
MOSCOW — The Ukraine, the Soviet Union’s second most populous republic, declared its sovereignty Monday, saying it will establish its own banking system and currency and will reserve the right to remain neutral and set up its own armed forces.
Aug. 24, 1991: Ukraine votes for declaration of independence
MOSCOW — The USSR hurtled toward dissolution Saturday as Russian President Boris Yeltsin recognized the independence of Estonia and Latvia and demanded that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev free all three Baltic republics.
And in Ukraine, the Soviet Union’s second most important republic, the parliament declared independence and approved decrees to mint its own currency and take command of all Soviet military units on its soil.
Neither Yeltsin nor Gorbachev commented on the Ukrainian decrees, but even deputies in the Ukrainian parliament did not expect that the massive military arsenal would remain under control of the government in Kiev if independence is achieved.
Aug. 28, 1991: Russia recognizes Ukrainian independence
KIEV, USSR — The government of the Russian republic recognized the right of Ukraine to independence Wednesday, speeding up the political disintegration of the Soviet Union.
In a communique that referred to “the former union,” the two largest of the 15 Soviet republics agreed they will become “sovereign and independent states” and said they will set up “temporary structures” to bridge the gap between the present centralized Soviet government and independent states.
Dec. 1, 1991: Millions vote on freedom for Ukraine
MOSCOW — Spurning warnings of “disaster” from President Mikhail Gorbachev, millions of Ukrainians voted Sunday in a referendum expected to overwhelmingly endorse independence from Moscow and thus effectively end the Soviet Union as it has existed for the last seven decades.
Stripped of Ukraine, an economic powerhouse almost as large as Texas with a population more than twice that of California, the old Soviet Union would be fatally wounded.
That appeared to be the result of Sunday’s vote.
Dec. 8, 1991: USSR is dead as Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia form new union
MOSCOW — It was the last empire.
The Soviet Union — the vast territory stretching from the Baltic Sea and Finland in the west, to the Pacific Ocean almost to Alaska in the east, to the Caspian Sea and Iran in the south and far beyond the Arctic Circle in the north — was more than a country.
It was indeed the last polyglot empire on the face of Earth, an empire as sure as those built by Britain, France and Spain in earlier centuries.
Sunday’s decision by Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia to form a commonwealth of independent nations ended that empire.
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