The Development of Liberalism in Ukraine
November 15, 2022
Published Paper
This article will appear in the forthcoming Winter 2022/23 issue of The Independent Review.
In the aftermath of Ukraine’s declaration of independence on August 24, 1991,the Yeltsin administration issued a statement claiming Russia’s right to raiseterritorial issues with ex-Soviet countries with substantial Russian minorities,including southern Ukraine, eastern Ukraine, and northern Kazakhstan (Solchanyk1996; Subtelny 2009; Plokhy 2017). That statement started the first serious politicalconflict between Ukraine and Russia in the post-Soviet period. The Russian parliamentdispatched a delegation to Kyiv, chaired by Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi.The Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) rejected the delegation’s offer to joina new union of ex-Soviet states by asserting the right of self-determination for thepeople of Ukraine.
