- •Soviet Ukraine until the death of Stalin (1945-53)
- •The Thaw
- •The “Stagnation” of the 1970s – first half of the 1980s
- •The Gorbachev Era: Reforming Soviet Society (1985-1991)
- •Independent Ukraine (1991-2010)
- •In 2006 a new political reform was introduced which limited presidential powers. Thus, Ukraine became a parliamentary-presidential republic.
In 2006 a new political reform was introduced which limited presidential powers. Thus, Ukraine became a parliamentary-presidential republic.
The slowdown of the economy helped the pro-Russian Party of Regions win the parliamentary elections in 2006. It formed a coalition with Communists and Socialists and started to limit Yushchenko’s powers.24 In response to this policy, the president dissolved the parliament. New parliamentary elections were scheduled for September 2007.
As a result of the 2007 parliamentary elections, the “Orange team” (Tymoshenko’s and Yushchenko’s blocs) returned to power. Yulia Tymoshenko became prime minister again. After resuming power the former allies (Timoshenko and Yushchenko) became major enemies. Prime Minister Y. Tymoshenko in fact had to fight against two rivals: Yushchenko’s bloc and the opposition Party of Regions led by Viktor Yanukovych. Both of them blocked many urgent reforms initiated by Tymoshenko. They did not want her to achieve success before the forthcoming presidential elections. In 2008 Ukraine became a member of the WTO (World Trade Organization) but that did not help much Tymoshenko as the world economic crisis struck Ukraine very seriously. The opposition and the President accused her of all economic misfortunes which hit Ukraine as a result of the world crisis. In February 2010 she lost presidential elections to her major rival Viktor Yanukovych.
Analyzing the period of Ukraine’s independence, foreign experts point out that Ukraine, despite its numerous economic mistakes and multinational ethnic composition, managed to avoid ethnic troubles that were typical traits of many post-Soviet republics. In their opinion, Ukrainians’ peace-loving and tolerant national character is a valuable asset that can bring positive economic results in the future.
1 Ukraine and Belarus were given UN membership as compensation for their extreme losses during WW II.
2Historians’ calculations sharply differ from 100,000 to 800,000.
3 Stalin wanted to support communist forces in these countries. He also did not want the local governments to ask Americans for help.
4 Moscow was founded by Kyivan Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147, several centuries later than Kyiv.
5 A cosmopolitan literally means a citizen of the world.
6 Instead of Crimea a Jewish autonomous republic was established in Siberia.
7 His body was placed in the mausoleum next to the body of Lenin. In 1961 Khrushchev removed Stalin’s body from the mausoleum and buried it in the Kremlin wall.
8 N.Khrushchev was born in Ukraine. His ancestors were among Zaporozhian Cossacks. His grandfather had a Cossack surname – Khrushch (bug), which was later transformed into a more civilized and Russian-sounded – Khrushchev.
9 By reducing the size of private plots Khrushchev planned to make peasants interested in spending more time in collective farms.
10 Corn occupied one-third of the arable land in Ukraine. In general, 40 percent of the arable land in the Soviet Union was occupied by corn in the Khrushchev years.
11 L.Brezhnev was born in Ukraine. In his early resumes he identified himself as a Ukrainian. Later, however, he identified himself as a Russian.
12 That “brainwashing” was successful because Ukrainians did not have alternative sources of information.
13 About 80 percent of Ukraine’s large enterprises were involved in arms production.
14 Before his death sick and old Brezhnev was looking for a successor to the positon of the Soviet leader. His choice was his Ukrainian friend and leader of Ukrainian communists V. Shcherbytsky. The leader of Ukraine refused the proposal.
15 Yu. Andropov had Jewish roots. His father V. Liberman had changed his name to Andropov after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. His mother’s name was Fainshtein (Flekenshtein, according to other sources).
16 K. Chernenko was half-Ukrainian and half-Russian. His father Ustym moved from Ukraine to Siberia at the end of the 19th century.
17 M. Gorbachev was half-Russian and half-Ukrainian. He had a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother.
18 Yeltsin at the time was head of the Russian Federative Soviet Republic and one of the major rivals of Gorbachev, who was head of the USSR.
19 In 1990 the economic situation in Poland was worse than in Ukraine.
20 Russia gave cheap energy resources; the West gave financial aid.
21 That was a result of unwise tax policy. Sometimes taxes reached 90%. Much of economic activity, therefore, escaped into the ‘shadow economy.’
22 Some foreign political analysts believe that the Gongadze case was organized by Russian secret services with the aim of bringing Ukraine into Russia’s orbit.
23 In contrast to the USA and the EU, Russia recognized the official results and congratulated Yanukovych on victory. It is interesting to note that other authoritarian rulers like those of Belarus, China, and Kazakhstan also congratulated Yanukovych.
24 As a result of Ukraine’s transformation from presidential to parliamentarian republic in 2006, Yushechenko’s powers were much weaker than those of Kuchma, but still significant.