How 1993 in Russia shaped 2023 for Ukraine
Yeltsin's decisions were probably the foundations for the nightmare we're living through now.
IN 1993, THE SECOND YEAR AFTER the dissolution of the USSR, Russia was governed by Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation. During his tenure, Boris Yeltsin adopted a policy of shock therapy, involving accelerated economic liberalization, privatization of former Soviet enterprises, and sharp austerity measures in Russian public services.
These measures became increasingly unpopular as they harmed the Russian economy, leading to a 14.5% contraction of the GDP in 1992, a decrease in the quality and life expectancy of the population, and an explosion of social inequality, There were not shortage of fear in the former Soviet republics like Ukraine, because the dimension of instability in Russia, the bigger subject of the Soviet Union, could certainly lead to a revival of colonialist and supremacist components of power that would claim again some territories that never were part of Russia except for the communist delusion.Â
In April 1993, the government in Moscow called for a referendum to endorse its policies with the Russian population. The government's economic policies were approved by 54%, while early presidential elections were rejected by 51%, and early parliamentary elections, desired by Yeltsin, were rejected due to a lack of quorum.
After the referendum, tensions between the presidency and the Supreme Soviet of Russia intensified. Yeltsin wanted a new parliament, while the Soviet was nostalgic of the USSR and desired to reverse several modernizing policies. In September 1993, Yeltsin decided to dissolve the parliament, leading to the approval of his impeachment.
Yeltsin's attempt to dissolve the Supreme Soviet triggered a series of protests against the government. The protests were mobilized by unions and left-wing factions opposing the dissolution of the USSR, as well as by reactionary groups, monarchists, ultra-nationalists, and neo-Nazis, who also opposed the prevailing authorities.
These protests were repressed with violence and with the bombing of the Supreme Soviet building. For Ukraine and the new independent states that emerged after the Soviet Union as well as throughout Eastern Europe, it brought a sense of relief because if succeeded, the antagonistic elements of Russian politics would expand their nostalgic will and place the reconstruction of the Soviet Union at the top of their priorities.Â
But in this part of the world, there's nothing like a benefit from history. It only postponed our fate as being subject to Russian greed and madness. And it was still arranged in the same year of 1993, when Yeltsin managed to enact a new constitution for Russia and granting extensive powers to the president. At the same time he removed the communist nostalgia from their imperial dreams, replacing the Supreme Soviet by the Duma, he took care that no Russian president from that moment would be, genuinely, accountable for corruption and mismanagement.Â
Since then, presidents in Russia are shielded from basically anything that could pose a threat to their power and their actions. It restored the old and traditional tyrannical element in a country that never really had a democratic experience and always crushed its own population no matter the time and the circumstances.
In the Ukrainian viewpoint, Yeltsin can be perceived as a temporary savior by squeezing enemies of democracy and imperialism. But after 30 years, he must be held responsible for paving the way to Putin, who became president in 1999 and since then has been taking a lot of advantage from the dictatorial mandate that Yeltsin's Russian Constitution allows him to promote.
Maybe what we are living in Ukraine now would be similar if we were invaded three decades ago under the same pretexts of today. Anyway, I was only six years old and couldn't be here telling you my personal testimony. With no internet, computers and smartphones, you probably would never know exactly what is going on around these lands.Â
But believe, this is the tragedy of Ukraine for centuries. The difference is that never before history could be told by insignificant and ordinary people like me.Â