The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

by Serhii Plokhy

Kravchuk and his supporters in Ukraine believed that by constantly expressing concern about the fate of the eastern regions of Ukraine, Gorbachev was in fact trying to stir up interethnic conflict in the republic and exploit it to save the Union. But the question of what would happen to the Russian minority in Ukraine was more than a propaganda ploy on Gorbachev’s part. Even those in his entourage who had already given up on the Union were concerned about the prospect of partitioning what was regarded as Russia’s historical territory. “In general there would be nothing amiss if it were not for Ukraine and for the Crimea, which cannot be given up,” noted Cherniaev in his diary.27 The answer to Gorbachev’s and Cherniaev’s concerns would be given by the forthcoming Ukrainian referendum. Those around Gorbachev did not believe that the Crimea and other regions of Ukraine with a sizable Russian population would vote for independence. It was a paradoxical situation. The future of the Russia-dominated Union depended on the Ukrainian vote, which in turn depended on the ethnic Russian vote in eastern and southern Ukraine.