On December 7, 1991, the Russian delegation headed by Boris Yeltsin flew to Minsk. Officially - for negotiations on the supply of oil and gas to Belarus. However, a day later, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, documents were signed that recorded the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Sergei Shakhrai, who during the negotiations in Viskuli was an adviser to the President of Russia, in an interview with TASS correspondent Viktor Dyatlikovich told what happened that day in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and also expressed his opinion about when the USSR passed the point of no return in its fate and who actually in fact destroyed the Union.
- Sergei Mikhailovich, I would like to remember with you the last day of the existence of the USSR ...
Do you know which myth I find the most surprising? The one that the USSR collapsed on December 8, 1991.
- Is not it so?
At the time of the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements, only two out of fifteen republics remained in the USSR - Russia and Kazakhstan.
In Viskuli, the death of the USSR was pronounced and a corresponding certificate was issued. It's like a doctor who was on call, and while he was driving, the patient died. In such a situation, blaming the doctor for death is simply nonsense.
All the rest proclaimed independence and left the Union before that.
Look at the calendar of holidays of the CIS states in this year: Georgia celebrated 25 years of its independence on April 9, 2016, Ukraine - August 24, Uzbekistan - September 1, Tajikistan - September 9, Turkmenistan - October 27 ... The Baltic states celebrated a quarter of a century of "freedom from the USSR" in general last year.
That is, all these states arose before December 8, 1991. Then what was destroyed that day?
- What then, in your opinion, happened in Viskuli?
The death of the USSR was declared, and a corresponding certificate was issued. It's like a doctor who was on call, and while he was driving, the patient died. In such a situation, blaming the doctor for death is simply nonsense. But a certificate of death is needed, without it one cannot bury it, one cannot enter into an inheritance.
Therefore, those states that established the USSR in 1922 (and this is a matter of principle, both politically and legally), recorded the fact that the Union no longer exists. But this statement is contained only in the first line of the preamble of a large document, which, by the way, is called not "Agreement on disintegration", but "Agreement on the establishment of the CIS."
So in Viskuli, the disintegration of the USSR was legally and actually stopped and a base, a nucleus for new integration was created. And on December 21, in Alma-Ata, other former Soviet republics joined this core.
- Supporters of the theory of the "Belovezhsky collusion" are sure that the Russian delegation arrived in Belarus already with finished project agreement on the creation of the CIS. And it was either you, or the Secretary of State of Russia Gennady Burbulis. Is it really so?
I didn't have it, I always talked about it. If Burbulis had a project, he did not share it with anyone. We arrived in Minsk on December 7th. The delegation included power engineers, economists, financiers, because they were going to solve issues on the supply of oil and gas to Belarus and other issues. And already from Minsk, Yeltsin and Shushkevich called Kravchuk. Shushkevich supposedly invited him on a hunt, but at that moment it became clear from the conversations that a discussion of some issues besides oil and gas had begun.
And finally, the idea took shape when Kravchuk arrived and the three presidents, without the presence of assistants, held negotiations. Then they summoned us and announced that they had agreed like this: the CIS instead of the USSR, the economic space is a single one, and Russia has nuclear weapons. "Go," they said, "make it out in the form of a contract." And we wrote the draft by the morning of December 8.
- How did you manage to draw up such a document in one night without preliminary study?
And we didn't have to reinvent the wheel and each formulation anew, because these issues have been discussed for two and a half years in Novo-Ogarevo.
In addition, there were three expert delegations from each country. Each one "formalized" the instructions of its presidents into a version of the text. They worked in separate houses under guard, or rather, under the supervision of the 9th KGB Directorate. Everything that happened was recorded and documented (this is about the "secret conspiracy" and the old story about the fact that three men in Belovezhskaya Pushcha were able to destroy a nuclear power with a multimillion-dollar army with a stroke of the pen).
The Russian version was written by Yegor Gaidar and I. I had the preamble and the fifth article, he had the main text. In the morning, the Ukrainian and Belarusian delegations brought their version, and we began to coordinate and unite them - literally line by line. And since in the residence at the place of negotiations there were not even photocopiers, they printed documents on an ordinary typewriter - either Optima, or Prima, and multiplied them via fax.
Since in the residence at the place of negotiations there were not even photocopiers, they printed documents on an ordinary typewriter - either Optima, or Prima, and multiplied them via fax. Probably, you cannot explain to today's youth what it is
Probably, you cannot explain to today's youth what it is when you stuff pages on plain paper into the machine, and it makes a copy on special paper for a fax, which rolls up into an endless roll. And we handed these rolls to the presidents in a separate room, and they returned them with handwritten edits. This work took about two hours.
At some point, when they decided on the main wording, they called Nazarbayev, they wanted him to sign too. He went to Viskuli, but in Moscow he was intercepted by Gorbachev, allegedly promising the post of Prime Minister of the USSR.
But this version surprises me, because Nursultan Abishevich knew perfectly well that the union government at that moment did not exist either de facto or de jure: after the putsch the old one resigned, and the new one was never formed. Only the Inter-republican Economic Committee of the USSR worked, which was headed by Ivan Silaev. It is not clear what Nazarbayev could lead? This again refers to the question of "collapse" and "conspiracy" - what kind of country is this that does not have a government?
- Why then did Nazarbayev not fly to Viskuli?
Nursultan Abishevich is a cautious person. Probably wanted to wait a little - to see how it all ends ...
- Gorbachev at that moment could somehow influence the events, except how to detain Nazarbayev in Moscow?
But as? When Gorbachev found out about the signing of the Commonwealth Agreement, he first phoned the USSR Minister of Defense Marshal Shaposhnikov, then phoned all the commanders of the military districts and asked for support. It cannot be said that he openly insisted on the use of force. Mikhail Sergeevich, as always, spoke vaguely, they say, guys, let's do something, the country is falling apart. But the military refused to support him.
When Gorbachev found out about the signing of the Commonwealth Agreement, he first phoned the USSR Minister of Defense Marshal Shaposhnikov, then phoned all the commanders of the military districts, asked for support, said, they say, guys, let's do something, the country is falling apart. But the military refused to support him
Sergey Shakhrai
All this was very similar to the situation on the eve of the 1917 revolution in Russia. Then a delegation from the State Duma came to Nicholas II with a proposal to abdicate the throne, and he called his military from the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief with about the same words, but everyone told him: "Renounce." 74 years later, Gorbachev heard essentially the same answer. Nobody was going to use force inside the country.
- And until December 8, did Gorbachev have the opportunity to "rewrite history"? What and when could he have done to keep the USSR?
The August 1991 putsch became the point of no return in the fate of the USSR. Up to this point, there were several “forks” when the story could have turned out differently. But it didn't work out.
I think that back in 1989-1990, Mikhail Sergeevich made several mistakes, and first of all it concerns the actions that led to the collapse of the CPSU. And the collapse of the CPSU in that situation meant the inevitable collapse of the USSR.
Firstly, losing the struggle for power within the CPSU, Gorbachev did not reform the party, but left it, and took with him the smartest, most progressive, effective people... They flowed from the governing bodies of the party and the apparatus to the Presidential Council, to some expert organizations. And in the party structures, people remained thinner, meaner, less competent and absolutely not inclined to any changes. The process of party degradation was becoming apparent.
In the context of the aggravation of the ideological and political war within the country, the communists are acutely aware of their ideological disunity. There is confusion in their minds on a number of fundamental issues. Many communists found themselves at a crossroads, were undecided in their ideological views
From the report "On discipline in the CPSU"
Plenum of the Central Control Commission (CCC) of the CPSU, March 1991
Secondly, Gorbachev at one time did not allow the creation of a faction within the CPSU. There was such a democratic platform in the CPSU. These people were not going to leave the party, they just wanted to influence the development of decisions. But factionalism was prohibited, and the party lost these people. And along with them, and a chance for renewal.
Thirdly, we must not forget that after the coup, Gorbachev announced his resignation as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and called on all honest communists to leave the party. On August 29, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspended the activities of the CPSU throughout the country. Yeltsin's decrees on the same topic appeared only more than two months later, on November 6, 1991. And they dealt mainly with issues of disposing of party property.
But the worst thing that could happen to the KPSS was the creation The communist party RSFSR. Both Lenin and Stalin stood in principle on the position: the RSFSR should not have a Communist Party. Communist parties, as driving levers of control, can be in all union republics, except for the RSFSR. Because Russia is the backbone of the USSR, and the creation of a separate Russian Communist Party meant a split in the CPSU, and, consequently, a split between the authorities and the country.
Therefore, when Ivan Polozkov and Gennady Zyuganov created the Communist Party of the RSFSR, they thereby drove a huge nail into the lid of the USSR's coffin.
And, finally, the most important of Gorbachev's mistakes, which could have been avoided, was that he did not dare to go to the election of the President of the USSR by popular vote.
- Apparently, he did not believe in success. Would he be elected?
Undoubtedly. 1987-1989 - the brightest years of hopes and expectations. And I would vote for him and call on the rest.
But he went to the elections by the Congress of People's Deputies, became a negotiated, weak leader. The elite agreed, several groups - he was elected. Likewise, at any time they could agree and remove him from office. To this, in fact, went.
In April 1991, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the issue of removing Gorbachev was practically resolved, an extraordinary congress of the CPSU was appointed for September 3, and an extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was to be held on September 4. It was assumed that at the Plenum of the Central Committee, Gorbachev would be removed from the post of general secretary, and at the Congress of People's Deputies - from the post of President of the USSR.
It is clear that Mikhail Sergeevich did not wait for his "friends and comrades-in-arms" to dismiss him. He sharply intensified negotiations with the leaders of the four union republics - the RSFSR, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. And in exchange for support, he promised them not only a renewed Union and a new Union Treaty, but also radical changes in the Union leadership system, primarily in the power and economic bloc. All these discussions were recorded by the KGB, and Kryuchkov laid the transcripts of the conversations on the table to his party colleagues.
On August 17, Yeltsin initialed the draft Union Treaty, and its official signing by the Union republics was scheduled for August 20. But on the eve of the coup began. The State Emergency Committee just wanted to be ahead of the curve - no holy struggle to "save the country." It was a cynical power struggle. Whatever the members of the State Emergency Committee say about their intentions, they did not stop the collapse of the USSR, but accelerated it and made it irreversible.
- You said that the State Emergency Committee was a point of no return. But why then did Gorbachev not do anything to prevent the putsch? There is evidence, including in the criminal case on the Emergency Committee, that the secret services and even the CIA warned him through diplomatic channels about Kryuchkov's plans, but he did nothing. Why?
You didn't have to be a CIA agent to see, feel what was happening in your environment. But by the summer of 1991, Gorbachev was no longer the strong leader who could prevent something. At some point they asked him: "Are you with us?" - "I'm not with you." - "Then move away, don't bother, we'll figure it out later." And they pushed it aside, but did not destroy it.
- And why was the Russian leadership not ready for such a development of events?
But is anyone ready for putsches, revolutions, counter-revolutions? For example, in 1993, on the night of October 3-4 (the peak of the political crisis caused by the confrontation between Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation. - Approx. TASS) I was practically alone in the Kremlin and, sitting on the porch of the seventh building, greeted the morning. Part of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs left the city, Moscow for some time remained almost without power and protection. It was just lucky that the armed columns from the White House went not to the Kremlin, but to Ostankino ...
In 1991, the scenario of the coup had been seen since April 1991. But before last moment no one believed that it was being realized. And of course no one foresaw specific details - this whole story with tanks on the streets of Moscow, with "Swan Lake" and Yanaev's shaking hands ...
- Returning to the reasons for the collapse of the USSR, let's admit that the leadership of the RSFSR also took steps that cannot be called strengthening the Union. On June 12, 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted, and Boris Yeltsin signed the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Russia ...
State sovereignty and state independence with secession from the country are different things. And besides, documents do not need to be taken out of context.
The declaration was adopted not in order to destroy the Union, but to stop the withdrawal of autonomies from the RSFSR. Against the background of the deepening economic crisis, the union center was losing its political authority, and the Russian leadership was gaining points. To weaken the RSFSR and Yeltsin, the CPSU Central Committee developed various "strategic plans."
For example, back in July 1989, at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, the possibility of decentralizing government in Russia with the creation of six or seven regions, endowed with equal rights with the union republics, was discussed. And in 1990, the union center made a bid to support the autonomies in their desire to increase their status within the USSR, and developed the so-called plan of autonomization.
- What was it?
Formally, the plan looked attractive: in place of the former USSR, out of 15 union republics with the right of free exit, a new federation of about 35 subjects was being created, but without the right to exit. To implement it, the Central Committee of the CPSU promised to give 20 autonomous republics the status of union ones, and they, in exchange, promised to support amendments to the constitution prohibiting the free withdrawal of subjects from the renewed USSR.
The Central Committee of the CPSU promised to give 20 autonomous republics the status of union ... For the RSFSR, which included 16 autonomies, this meant the loss of 51% of the territory, almost 20 million population and almost all natural resources
But for the RSFSR, which included 16 autonomies, this meant the loss of 51% of the territory, almost 20 million of the population and almost all natural resources. The territory of the republic was turning into a piece of cheese with huge holes.
After the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted two laws on April 10 and 26, 1990, which equalized the status of the autonomous republics with the union ones in the socio-economic sphere, the "parade of sovereignty" of the autonomies began, the consequences of which we are still trying to unravel.
Therefore, the RSFSR adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty on June 12, 1990. We had to confirm our territorial integrity and prohibit the leaders of the autonomous regions from any "games with the center" over the head of the Russian leadership. By the way, I would like to remind you that it was not a narrow group of democrats who voted for the Declaration, but the people's deputies, among whom 86% were communists. It's just that everyone understood the danger of what was happening.
And on the second day after the putsch, on August 20, 1991, all the leaders of the autonomies were already sitting in Yanayev's reception room - they were eager to immediately receive the promised status of the union republics.
By the way, when we were drafting the 1993 Constitution, all these autonomies that Yanayev had in the waiting room demanded that the Constitution be written down to the right of free withdrawal from the federation. “There should be a right of free exit,” they said. “We will never use it, you don’t think we are for united Russia, but it should be written down.” But we didn't go for it. "
As far as I remember, the heads of the autonomies came to Moscow in August 1991 to sign the Union Treaty. But it was precisely the desire to prevent this event that became one of the reasons for the putsch. Did this document really "bury" the USSR?
I must say that the very idea of a new Union Treaty, of course, played a role in the fate of the USSR. Let me remind you that the first Union Treaty was signed in 1922. This document existed until 1936, when its provisions became part of the USSR Constitution. And no one remembered about him again, except for historians.
They started talking about him again in November 1988, at the suggestion of Estonia (on November 16, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted a resolution "On the Union Treaty", proposing to the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces to develop a similar document. - Approx. TASS). The logic was approximately that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were driven into the USSR in 1941 on the basis of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the politicians of these states considered their presence in the USSR illegitimate. But in 1988 they had not yet proposed to leave the USSR, but put the question like this: let's sign a union treaty, after which our stay in the USSR will be voluntary, truly legal and voluntary.
Then the topic of a new Union Treaty, but already as a basis for a renewed USSR, was raised at the I Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. She, as they say, went to the masses.
Perhaps it was a very important historical fork, because at that time Gorbachev had already prepared a draft of the new Constitution of the USSR. The team of authors was headed by Academician Kudryavtsev, he reported this project at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and it was a powerful document. If Gorbachev had chosen this path, then, perhaps, the USSR could have been saved. But in the end, history turned the other way - the draft Constitution of the USSR was thrown into the trash can and the Novoogarevsky process began.
- Why was the option with the Union Treaty worse than the new constitution?
The new Union Treaty actually meant the creation of a new state from scratch and on new principles. At the same time, all participants tried to furnish their agreement with a bunch of conditions, and the process is constantly elongated in endless negotiations and agreements.
[Yeltsin] - This is very important ... This is an attempt to preserve the commonwealth, but free us from the total control of the center, which has been giving orders for over 70 years ... [Bush] - Boris, you ... [Yeltsin] - Mr. President, I must tell you privately that the President Gorbachev is unaware of these results. Of course, we will immediately inform him of the signing of the agreement.
From a telephone conversation between Boris Yeltsin and George W. Bush
Looking back, I see how many opportunities there were for the renewal and preservation of the USSR at the beginning of perestroika. A whole fan of different options opened up. But at every fork in the road, the party leadership stubbornly turned the wrong way. As a result, there was only one road that led us to Viskuli.
First point accusations are based on the fact that in December 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin committed treason by preparing and concluding the Belovezhskaya Agreements, which finally destroyed the Soviet Union and caused enormous material damage to Russia, its territorial integrity, and defense capability, which caused numerous human sacrifice and incalculable suffering.
The conclusion of these agreements was preceded by a number of other anti-constitutional actions of Boris Yeltsin, connected with the forcible seizure of the Union power and the re-subordination of the Union ministries and departments.
He, in pursuance of the Belovezhskaya agreements, finally terminated the activities of the Union legislative and other authorities, reassigned the USSR Armed Forces, introduced customs and border barriers on the Russian borders.
The signing of the Belavezha Accords and the subsequent actions of B. Yeltsin were committed in the interests of the NATO member countries, and primarily the United States of America.
It is no coincidence that immediately after the signing of the agreements, Boris Yeltsin called not just anyone, namely the President of the United States, and reported that the Soviet Union was no longer there.
US President George W. Bush, in his statement on December 25, 1991, emphasized: “The United States welcomes the historic freedom choices made by the new Commonwealth states. Despite the potential for instability and chaos, these events clearly meet our interests "(newspaper "Izvestia" for December 26, 1991).
Therefore, the United States of America is making every effort so that the USSR will no longer be revived in any form.
These actions of President Boris Yeltsin contain signs of serious crimes provided for by Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR or Articles 275, 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Moreover, we do not see any significant difference in the dispositions of these articles, because they speak of acts committed in the interests of foreign states and causing great damage to the country's defense capability and external security, as well as the violent seizure of power. -ty.
The deliberate actions of the president, and there is no doubt about it, were directed not only against the USSR, but also against the Russian Federation, its successor.
Together with other persons, a number of social and political organizations, B. Yeltsin destroyed the Soviet Union, which, being one of the founders of the United Nations, provided reliable external security for all Union republics. The USSR was a reliable counterweight to the hegemonic aspirations of the United States of America, which are increasingly manifested in the world. The recent events in the Balkans are clear evidence of this.
The Belovezhskaya Agreements and subsequent actions of B. Yeltsin not only destroyed the powerful union state, but also destroyed the economic, scientific and technical potential, undermined the defense capability and security of the Russian Federation, which we will discuss in detail below.
Let me remind you that after the conclusion of the Belovezhskaya agreements, 8 out of 16 military districts that existed on the territory of the USSR turned out to be outside Russia. The military districts - especially in the west, north-west and south of the Soviet Union - were the most mobilized, saturated with modern military equipment. They remained on the territory of the new states.
On the territory of the former union republics, outside the Russian Federation, 13 combined-arms armies and corps, 3 air defense armies remained. 4 tank armies, 5 air armies.
In the southern, western and northwestern directions, we have lost reliable air defense systems. They lost many objects of forward basing and observation, command and control of the armed forces.
Russia has largely lost access to the sea, and primarily in the Baltics. Serious contradictions have arisen over the Black Sea Fleet, which today we share with Ukraine. In terms of its parameters, it as a whole is already 1.5 times inferior to the navy of Turkey, which has always declared its interest in the Transcaucasia and the Black Sea region.
The NATO bloc has already crept almost to the walls of the Kremlin. Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary became members of this alliance.
There are no guarantees that the Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia - will not be admitted to NATO and nuclear weapons aimed at Russia will not be deployed on their territory.
These are just some of the consequences that we have after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which caused colossal damage to the defense capability, external security and territorial integrity of Russia.
But not only in them we see the criminal nature of the actions of B. Yeltsin. By signing the Belavezha Accords, B. Yeltsin aggravated interethnic and ethnic relations throughout the entire former Soviet Union. In clashes on the national soil in Russia, Tajikistan, Moldova, Azerbaidzhan and in other regions, about a million people died. More than 10 million former citizens of the USSR became refugees. Such violence against people and such a large-scale forced resettlement fade before the Stalinist deportation of peoples.
B. Yeltsin committed an unheard-of violation of the constitutional rights of all citizens of the Russian Federation. As is known, in accordance with Article 33 of the Constitution of the USSR, every citizen of Russia was at the same time a citizen of the Soviet Union. More than 70 percent of the citizens of the RSFSR at the referendum on March 17, 1991, confirmed their desire to remain citizens of the USSR.
Belovezhie overnight undermined one of the main foundations of the legal status of an individual - the institution of citizenship, thereby giving rise to a chain reaction that we see today in disputes about it. Suffice it to say that 25 million Russians turned out to be foreigners on their land in one night.
Later, in his message to the Federal Assembly on February 16, 1995, B. Yeltsin admits that “The loss of a part of the people in the rejected territory is the same damage to the state as the loss, for example, of a hand for a person. For the same reason, actions aimed at rejecting a part of the state territory should be considered a crime against the state as a whole "... Thus, B. Yeltsin himself assessed his actions, calling them criminal.
The actions of the president destroyed the age-old traditions of co-existence of peoples Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union, interpersonal relationships, including in the economic, social, scientific and defense spheres. The freedom of citizens of the once united state to move, choose a place of residence, and an unhindered, customs-free exchange of labor products was limited. This also showed B. Yeltsin's arrogance and heartlessness towards people, his abuse of power.
Did the President of Russia have any authority to sign the Belovezhskaya Agreements, which led to the final destruction of the USSR?
There can be only one answer to this question: no, I did not. The overwhelming majority of the Soviet people refused him this. Therefore, the very violation of the will of the people by B. Yeltsin, expressed at the national referendum in March 1991, is already a criminal act. The actions of the president went far beyond the scope of his powers stipulated by the Constitutions of the USSR and the RSFSR, the Law "On the President of the Russian Federation", and other legislative acts.
Undoubtedly, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, controlled by the president's supporters, played their negative role in the destruction of the union state. However, this in no way diminishes the responsibility of the president himself.
In addition, let us note to our opponents that the Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Russian Federation, adopted on June 12, 1990 by the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, says that Russia remains a member of the renewed USSR.
As you know, the Union Treaty of 1922 was signed first by six republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia that were part of the Transcaucasian Federation, and then nine more republics that made up the USSR joined it. Moreover, this agreement was fully included as component in the first Constitution of the USSR in 1924. Later, its main provisions were reproduced in the Constitutions of the USSR of 3936 and 1977, individual provisions were also enshrined in the constitutions of the union republics.
The Union Treaty of 1922 and the corresponding constitutional norms never provided for its denunciation, since the treaty was primarily a document of a constituent rather than an international character. The treaty, and then the constitutions, provided only for the preservation of each of the union republics that entered the USSR, the right to freely withdraw from the Union, the order of which was regulated by the USSR Law of April 3, 1990.
The issue of the withdrawal of the republic was to be decided by means of a referendum. If at least two-thirds of the adult population voted for him, then the issue was to be considered by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, and then in the republics themselves. After this, a transitional period was established for a period of no more than five years, to clarify all the problems of an economic, financial, territorial, environmental nature that may arise in connection with the secession of the republic, as well as to resolve other disputes, primarily those claims that could be presented by citizens. And only on the basis of the results of consideration of all these procedures, the question of the republic's secession from the Union was finally decided by the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. This order, established by the USSR Law of April 3, 1990, was completely ignored and rejected by Boris Yeltsin.
It should be noted that following this, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR adopted on December 24, 1990, three resolutions of exceptional importance, which are now rarely mentioned.
First ruling: on the preservation of the USSR as a renewed Federation of equal sovereign republics.
Second decree: on the preservation of the name of the state - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Third ruling: on holding a referendum in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Such a referendum, as you know, took place on March 17, 1991. Of the 185.6 million citizens of the USSR with the right to vote, 148.5 million, or 80 percent, took part in it. Of these, 113.5 million, or 76.4 percent, voted for the preservation of the USSR.
In accordance with article 29 of the law on referendum, his decision was binding throughout the country and could be canceled or changed only through another referendum. The law obliged all state bodies, organizations and all officials, without exception, to comply with the referendum's decision, for it was the highest and direct expression of the power of the people.
Therefore, the Belovezhskaya Agreements signed by Yeltsin, which announced that the USSR as a subject of international law and as a geopolitical reality ceases to exist, are illegal and contrary to the will of the people.
In addition, the decisions of Belovezhskaya Pushcha were signed by only three “founding fathers” of the CIS, not six, and even more so not fifteen. Under such circumstances, they had no right to liquidate the USSR as a geopolitical concept.
B. Yeltsin's actions to destroy the USSR were deliberate, deliberate and are not a statement of the natural disintegration of the union state, as our opponents claim. This is evidenced by the abundant evidence. We will only refer to some of them.
The destruction of the great country was accomplished by Boris Yeltsin in collusion with the separatists of a number of union republics. They were the ones who kindled national conflicts in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, in the Baltics and Moldavia, and in Russia itself. It was they who turned the national question into an instrument of destruction, not creation, into an instrument for the conquest of power.
Boris Yeltsin has long and consistently walked towards the destruction of the USSR, as evidenced by his own statements. Speaking on May 30, 1990 at the first Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, he said: "Russia will be independent in everything, and its decisions must be higher than the allies".
During his visit to Sverdlovsk on August 16 of the same year, Boris Yeltsin said: "The original version of my program - seven Russian states." And a day later, speaking in the Komi Republic, he noted that Russia would abandon the union power structure.
In the same vein, people from the close circle of the president, his spiritual and ideological mentors spoke and acted.
Odious personalities from among the former people's deputies of the USSR who were part of the notorious interregional deputy group - Gavriil Popov, Galina Starovoy-tova, Gennady Burbulis and others - directly proclaimed the idea of creating more than 50 independent states on the territory of the Soviet Union.
Former associate of the President Ruslan Khasbulatov, characterizing the collapse of the USSR, said: "We wanted to do this coup"
"Coup" or "Transition to a new qualitative state" Ivan Silaev, the former chairman of the Yeltsin Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, also named these acts.
Grigory Yavlinsky, who was part of Boris Yeltsin's team, argued: “Boris Nikolayevich and his immediate entourage had clear political guidelines ... First of all, the immediate, in the literal sense, in one day, not only the political, but also the economic collapse of the Union, the elimination of all conceivable coordinating economic bodies, including tea financial, credit and monetary spheres. Further - the all-sided separation of Russia from all republics, including those that did not raise such a question at that time, for example, Belarus and Kazakhstan. That was the political order. " This revelation of the leader of the Yabloko party can be read in Literaturnaya Gazeta, No. 44, 1992.
Almost a year before the political destruction of the USSR, the Congress of the so-called democratic forces, which took place on January 21, 1991 in Kharkov, decided to abolish the USSR. Prominent democrat of Russia took part in its work: Yuri Afanasyev, Nikolai Travkin (he is sitting in our hall), Bella Denisenko, Arkady Murashev and others.
The author of this concept, Gennady Burbulis, Boris Yeltsin's ideological mentor and former Russian secretary of state, very much regretted that it was not possible to immediately implement the principles of the Congress. Boris Yeltsin also regretted this, of which you can be convinced by reading the newspaper "Izvestia" of December 17, 1991 and "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" of January 21, 1992. And if today the procedure for dismissing the president meets with stiff resistance, this is largely due to the fact that here, in the hall of the State Duma, and within the walls of the Federation Council, there is still a significant number of persons, representatives of parties and movements, who, together with B . Yeltsin put forward-zeros and implemented the idea of destruction of the USSR.
Thus, answering our opponents, we declare once again that the Soviet Union collapsed not as a result of natural and logical processes, not as a result of the August events of 1991, but as a result of the political conspiracy of the “fifth column”, with the connivance, and in a number of cases, the participation of the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev, heads of a number of Union ministries and departments, as a result of a conspiracy headed by B. Yeltsin.
In March 1991, at a meeting with Muscovites at the House of Cinema, he openly opposed a referendum on the future of the USSR. And then, in a hurry, using the powers of the president, he took new steps to destroy the union state.
On August 20 and 22, 1991, he issues a decree on the re-subordination of all executive bodies of the USSR, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB.
On August 21 and 22, Yeltsin's decrees transferred allied media outlets to the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Press and Mass Media.
On August 22, a decree was issued on some issues of the activities of the authorities of the RSFSR. Contrary to the Constitutions of the RSFSR and the USSR, this decree granted the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR the right to suspend the action of resolutions and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR.
On August 24, a decree was issued on the transfer of all types of government communications of the USSR to the KGB of the RSFSR, and to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications of the RSFSR (it was called - for communications, informatics and space) - all other communications enterprises under the Union subordination.
On October 1, the government of the RSFSR establishes that the decisions of the Union Committee for the Operational Management of the National Economy of the USSR come into effect only if they are approved by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.
On October 9, 1991, the State Committee for Science and Higher Education was instructed to take all union organizations operating in this area into its management.
On November 15, 1991, all structures, divisions and organizations of the former USSR Ministry of Finance were reassigned to the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the RSFSR. At the same time, funding of the ministries and departments of the USSR is terminated, except for those to which some of the management functions of the Russian Federation have been transferred.
On November 15, all organizations of the Union prosecutor's office, including the military prosecutor's office, are reassigned to the General Prosecutor of the RSFSR.
On November 22, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR recognizes the Central Bank of Russia as the only body for monetary and foreign exchange regulation on the territory of the republic. The material and technical base and other resources of the State Bank of the USSR are transferred to him under full economic control and management.
Thus, with the personal participation and under the leadership of Yeltsin, even before the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements, the main levers of control were taken from the Soviet Union and its bodies and the basis was prepared for the complete destruction of the union state.
Naturally, this kind of usurpation of the powers of the union bodies by the bodies of the RSFSR and the President of Russia sharply intensified the centrifugal tendencies in the actions of other republics, who saw this as a threat to themselves and hastened to dissociate themselves from the union center even more rigidly. This forced a number of leaders of the union republics, in particular the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev, to resolutely oppose the transfer of union functions. the Russian parliament and the Russian leadership, and the prerogative of the allied president - the Russian president. Nazarbayev's speech took place in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 26, 1991. Later, he would also bluntly declare that without Russia there would have been no Bialowieza document and the Union would not have collapsed. ("Nezavisi-Maya Gazeta" dated May 6, 1992)
Actions of President Boris Yeltsin, Russian ministries and departments not only intensified centrifugal tendencies in other union republics, but, undoubtedly, negatively affected the nature and results of the referendums held in the second half of 1991 in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia. In addition, the question submitted to the Ukrainian referendum was formulated incorrectly. Citizens of Ukraine were asked not about their desire to secede from the USSR, but whether they want to live in an independent state. Naturally, there are always few or no people willing to live in a colonial or semi-colonial state.
Could the Soviet Union be saved? Yes, you can - and it had to be done. The will of the majority of the people was expressed at the All-Union referendum on March 17, 1991, and the state leaders of the USSR and Russia, if they were patriots, ardently loving their Fatherland, and not groveling henchmen of the United States of America, were obliged to fulfill the people's will. If they could not, then they were obliged to resign. This did not happen.
The Belovezhskaya Agreements dealt a crushing blow to the economy and threw every Union republic back in their development. They brought innumerable and irreparable losses, troubles and suffering to tens of millions Soviet people who today want to live freely in a single family of nations. Such a unification would have taken place long ago if it had not been for the opposition from many political elites in the former Soviet republics, and above all in the Russian Federation.
There are good reasons for the reunification of peoples, and first of all, the legal nullity of the Belovezhsky agreements and the legal inconsistency of their ratification by the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
Victor Ilyukhin
Historians from all over the world squeak with delight. A unique "Yeltsin Center" has opened in Yekaterinburg, which for lovers of archives and secrets of the past is like a shop with cakes for kids.
The museum employees are especially proud of the secret transcripts of telephone conversations between Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George W. Bush. Immediately after the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreement (on the creation of the CIS - Ed.), Which took place on December 8, 1991, Boris Nikolayevich first called US President George W. Bush. They talked for 28 minutes. And two weeks later, on December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev called George W. Bush. This happened right before he officially resigned as president of the USSR. The conversation lasted 22 minutes. For a long time, the details of these two conversations could only be guessed at. Our special services did not record them, but the Americans recorded them, but classified them.
They were kept in the state of Texas at the Presidential Library. And only in 2008, Bush Jr. removed the "Secret" stamp from the papers.
So, unique transcripts.
YELTSIN: "I WANT TO INFORM YOU PERSONALLY, SIR PRESIDENT"
THE WHITE HOUSE. WASHINGTON. RECORDING A PHONE CALL
PARTICIPANTS: George W. Bush, President of the United States, Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Republic
President Bush: Hello Boris. How are you doing?
President Yeltsin: Hello Mr. President. I am very glad to welcome you. Mr. President, you and I agreed that in case of events of extraordinary importance, we will inform each other, I - you, you - me. A very important event took place in our country today, and I would like to personally inform you before you learn about it from the press.
President Bush: Of course, thank you.
This is what the original classified transcript looked like in English.
President Yeltsin: We have gathered today, Mr. President, the leaders of three republics - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. We got together and after numerous lengthy discussions that lasted almost two days, we came to the conclusion that the existing system and the agreement that we are being persuaded to sign does not suit us. That is why we got together and just a few minutes ago signed a joint agreement. Mr. President, we, the leaders of the three republics - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia - stating that the negotiations on a new [Union] treaty have reached a dead end, we are aware of the objective reasons why the creation of independent states has become a reality. In addition, noting that the rather short-sighted policy of the center led us to an economic and political one that affected all production spheres and various segments of the population, we, the community of independent states of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, signed an agreement. This agreement, which consists of 16 articles, essentially stipulates the creation of a commonwealth or a group of independent states.
President Bush: Understand.
President Yeltsin: The members of this Commonwealth are committed to strengthening international peace and security. They also guarantee compliance with all international obligations under agreements and treaties signed the former Union, including external debt. We also advocate unified control over nuclear weapons and their non-proliferation. This agreement was signed by the heads of all states participating in the negotiations - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
President Bush: Okay.
President Yeltsin: The President of Ukraine and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus are with me in the room from where I am calling. I also just finished my conversation with the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev. I read him the full text of the agreement, including all 16 articles. He fully supports all our actions and is ready to sign the agreement. He will soon fly to Minsk airport for signing.
President Bush: Understand.
President Yeltsin: This is extremely important. These four republics produce 90% of the total gross output of the Soviet Union. This is an attempt to preserve the commonwealth, but free us from the total control of the center, which has been giving orders for more than 70 years. This is a very serious step, but we hope, we are convinced, we are confident that this is the only way out of the critical situation in which we find ourselves.
President Bush: Boris, you ...
President Yeltsin: Mr. President, I must tell you confidentially that President Gorbachev is not aware of these results. He knew about our intention to get together - in fact, I myself told him that we were going to meet. Of course, we will immediately send him the text of our agreement, since, of course, he will have to make decisions at his own level. Mr. President, I was very, very frank with you today. We, the four states, believe that there is only one possible way out of this critical situation. We do not want to do anything in secret - we will immediately forward the statement to the press. We hope for your understanding.
President Bush: Boris, I am grateful for your call and your frankness. We will now look at all 16 points. What do you think the reaction of the center will be?
President Yeltsin: First, I spoke with Defense Minister Shaposhnikov. I would like to read the 6th article of the agreement. Shaposhnikov actually fully agrees and supports our position. And now I am reading the 6th article: ...
Boris Yeltsin during a visit to the United States in 1989.
President Bush: We, of course, want to study all this carefully. We understand that these issues should be decided by the participants, and not by third parties such as the United States.
President Yeltsin: We guarantee this, Mr. President.
President Bush: Well good luck and thanks for your call. We will wait for the reaction of the center and other republics. I think time will tell.
President Yeltsin: I am convinced that all the other republics will understand us and very soon join us.
President Bush: Thanks again for your call after such a historic event.
President Yeltsin: Goodbye.
President Bush: Goodbye.
As you can see, it looks more like a monologue, a report ... Gorbachev's conversation took place differently ...
Back in 1991, when the collapse of the USSR entered the final stage, the new leadership of the country, represented by President Boris Yeltsin, tried to keep the partners from the United States informed of events. This was told by the former vice-president of the Russian Federation Alexander Rutskoi.
“There was intelligence that the storming of the White House was about to take place. And as soon as this information passed, Yeltsin immediately took it and was going to the American Embassy. I stopped him all the time. I said: 'Boris Nikolayevich, this cannot be done. Do you understand what you are doing ?, - Rutskoi recalled, - When the agreements were signed in Belovezhie, George Bush was the first to whom Yeltsin reported that the Soviet Union was no longer there.
According to Rutskoi, Yeltsin regularly communicated with the US leadership and reported on the success of the unilateral surrender in the Cold War.
Today there are more questions about the putsch than answers. Declassified CIA documents will shed light on events 25 years ago. Journalists of the Zvezda TV channel, together with eyewitnesses, studied the secret mechanisms that led the USSR to a catastrophe, the echoes of which are still felt.
The memoirs of George W. Bush, which were published in a book entitled "A Changed World", also repeatedly emphasize Bori's close interaction with the US leadership in the collapse of the USSR.
"On December 8, 1991, Yeltsin called me to inform me of his meeting with Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich, the presidents of Ukraine and Belarus. In fact, he was still with them in the room of a hunting lodge near Brest." ... And I wanted to inform you personally, before you find out about it from the press, "he said with pathos. Yeltsin explained that they held a two-day meeting and came to the conclusion that" the current system and the treaty on the Union, to which all of us push, we are not satisfied. Therefore, we got together and signed a joint agreement a few minutes ago, "writes Bush senior.
As a result, they signed a 16-point agreement on the creation of a "commonwealth or association of independent states." In other words, he told me that, together with the presidents of Ukraine and Belarus, they decided to destroy the Soviet Union. When he finished reading the prepared text, his tone changed. It seemed to me that the provisions of the signed agreement that he outlined were specially formulated in such a way as to get the support of the United States: they directly set out the conditions for which we stood for recognition. I didn't want to prematurely express our approval or disapproval, so I just said, "I understand."
"This is very important. Mr. President," he added, "I must tell you confidentially that Gorbachev did not know about these results. He knew that we were gathered here. In fact, I told him myself that we would meet. Of course, we will immediately we will send him the text of our agreement, and, of course, he will have to make decisions at his own level. Mr. President, I was very, very frank with you today. Four of our countries believe that there is only one possible way out of the current critical situation. We do not want do something in secret - we will immediately pass on the statement to the press. We hope for your understanding. Dear George, I am finished. This is extremely, extremely important. According to the established tradition between us, I could not wait ten minutes not to call you ", - told about the actions of Yeltsin, the ex-president of the United States.
In conclusion, let us present a transcript of the conversation between Yeltsin and Bush Sr. dated December 8, 1991, on the day of the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements.
President Bush: Hello Boris. How are you doing?
President Yeltsin: Hello Mr. President. I am very glad to welcome you. Mr. President, you and I agreed that in case of events of extraordinary importance, we will inform each other, I - you, you - me. A very important event took place in our country today, and I would like to personally inform you before you learn about it from the press.
President Bush: Of course, thank you.
President Yeltsin: We have gathered today, Mr. President, the leaders of three republics - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. We got together and after numerous lengthy discussions that lasted almost two days, we came to the conclusion that the existing system and the Union Treaty, which we are being persuaded to sign, do not suit us. That is why we got together and just a few minutes ago signed a joint agreement. Mr. President, we, the leaders of the three republics - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia - stating that the negotiations on a new [Union] treaty have reached a dead end, we are aware of the objective reasons why the creation of independent states has become a reality. In addition, noting that the rather short-sighted policy of the center led us to an economic and political crisis that affected all production spheres and various segments of the population, we, the community of independent states of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, signed an agreement. This agreement, which consists of 16 articles, essentially stipulates the creation of a commonwealth or a group of independent states.
Bush: Understand.
President Yeltsin: The members of this Commonwealth are committed to strengthening international peace and security. They also guarantee compliance with all international obligations under agreements and treaties signed by the former Union, including on external debt. We also advocate unified control over nuclear weapons and their non-proliferation. This agreement was signed by the heads of all states participating in the negotiations - Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
Bush: Okay.
Yeltsin: In the room from where I am calling, the President of Ukraine and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus are with me. I also just finished my conversation with the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev. I read him the full text of the agreement, including all 16 articles. He fully supports all our actions and is ready to sign the agreement. He will soon fly to Minsk airport for signing.
Bush: Understand.
Yeltsin: This is extremely important. These four republics produce 90% of the total gross output of the Soviet Union. This is an attempt to preserve the commonwealth, but free us from the total control of the center, which has been giving orders for more than 70 years. This is a very serious step, but we hope, we are convinced, we are confident that this is the only way out of the critical situation in which we find ourselves.
Bush: Boris, you ...
Yeltsin: Mr. President, I must tell you confidentially that President Gorbachev is not aware of these results. He knew about our intention to get together - in fact, I myself told him that we were going to meet. Of course, we will immediately send him the text of our agreement, since, of course, he will have to make decisions at his own level. Mr. President, I was very, very frank with you today. We, the four states, believe that there is only one possible way out of this critical situation. We do not want to do anything in secret - we will immediately forward the statement to the press. We hope for your understanding.
Bush: Boris, I am grateful for your call and your frankness. We will now look at all 16 points. What do you think the reaction of the center will be?
On December 8, 1991, in Viskuli near Brest (Belarus), President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin, President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk and Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich signed an agreement on the dissolution of the USSR and on the creation of the CIS.
The heads of the three states stressed that they had decided on the formation of the CIS, "realizing their responsibility to their peoples and the world community and the urgent need for the practical implementation of political and economic reforms."
From the republics of the former USSR, the Commonwealth did not include Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
In a statement following the signing of the agreement, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev qualified the actions of the leaders of the three republics as anti-constitutional.
The participants in the Belovezhskaya Agreement themselves rejected accusations of the destruction of the USSR. However, in 1996, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced that he regretted signing the Belovezhskaya Agreement.
Minsk. The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In the photo (from left to right): Leonid Kravchuk, Stanislav Shushkevich and Boris Yeltsin after the signing of the agreement, December 8, 1991.
12/08/1991 Russian President Boris Yeltsin (second from left), President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk (second from right) and Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich (right) during a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha to sign the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS. Yuri Ivanov / RIA Novosti
First point The accusations are based on the fact that in December 1991 Russian President Boris Yeltsin committed high treason by preparing and concluding the Belovezhskaya Agreements, which finally destroyed the Soviet Union and inflicted enormous material damage on Russia, its territorial integrity, defense capability, causing numerous human casualties and incalculable suffering.
The conclusion of these agreements was preceded by a number of other anti-constitutional actions of Boris Yeltsin, connected with the forcible seizure of the Union power and the re-subordination of the Union ministries and departments.
He, in pursuance of the Belovezhskaya agreements, finally terminated the activities of the Union legislative and other authorities, reassigned the USSR Armed Forces, introduced customs and border barriers on the Russian borders.
The signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements and the subsequent actions of Boris Yeltsin were committed in the interests of the NATO member countries, and primarily the United States of America.
It is no coincidence that immediately after the signing of the agreements, Boris Yeltsin called not just anyone, namely the President of the United States, and reported that the Soviet Union was no longer there.
“The United States welcomes the historic freedom choice made by the new Commonwealth states. Despite the potential for instability and chaos, these events clearly serve our interests. "(newspaper "Izvestia" for December 26, 1991).
Therefore, the United States of America is making every effort so that the USSR will no longer be revived in any form.
These actions of President Boris Yeltsin contain signs of serious crimes provided for by Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR or Articles 275, 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Moreover, we do not see any significant difference in the dispositions of these articles, because they speak of acts committed in the interests of foreign states and causing great damage to the country's defense capability and external security, as well as the violent seizure of power.
The deliberate actions of the president, and there is no doubt about it, were directed not only against the USSR, but also against the Russian Federation, its successor.
Together with other persons, a number of social and political organizations, B. Yeltsin destroyed the Soviet Union, which, being one of the founders of the United Nations, ensured reliable external security for all Union republics. The USSR was a reliable counterbalance to the hegemonic aspirations of the United States of America, which are increasingly manifesting themselves in the world. The recent events in the Balkans are clear evidence of this.
The Belovezhskaya Agreements and the subsequent actions of B. Yeltsin not only destroyed the powerful union state, but also destroyed the economic, scientific and technical potential, undermined the defense capability and security of the Russian Federation, which we will discuss in detail below.
Let me remind you that after the conclusion of the Belovezhskaya agreements, 8 out of 16 military districts that existed on the territory of the USSR turned out to be outside Russia. The military districts - especially in the west, north-west and south of the Soviet Union - were the most mobilized, saturated with modern military equipment. They remained on the territory of the new states.
On the territory of the former Soviet republics, outside the Russian Federation, 13 combined-arms armies and corps, 3 air defense armies remained. 4 tank armies, 5 air armies.
In the southern, western and northwestern directions, we have lost reliable air defense systems. They lost many of their forward-based and observation facilities, as well as the command and control of the armed forces.
Russia has largely lost access to the sea, and primarily in the Baltics. Serious contradictions have arisen over the Black Sea Fleet, which today we share with Ukraine. In terms of its parameters, it as a whole is already 1.5 times inferior to the navy of Turkey, which has always declared its interest in the Transcaucasus and the Black Sea region.
The NATO bloc has already crept almost to the walls of the Kremlin. Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary became members of this alliance.
There are no guarantees that the Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia - will not be admitted to NATO and nuclear weapons aimed at Russia will not be deployed on their territory.
These are just some of the consequences that we have after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which caused colossal damage to the defense capability, external security and territorial integrity of Russia.
But it is not only in them that we see the criminal nature of Yeltsin's actions. By signing the Belavezha Accords, B. Yeltsin aggravated interethnic and ethnic relations throughout the entire former Soviet Union. In clashes on ethnic grounds in Russia, Tajikistan, Moldova, Azerbaijan and other regions, about a million people died. More than 10 million former citizens of the USSR became refugees. Such violence against people and such a large-scale forced resettlement pale before the Stalinist deportation of peoples.
B. Yeltsin committed an unheard-of violation of the constitutional rights of all citizens of the Russian Federation. As you know, in accordance with Article 33 of the Constitution of the USSR, every citizen of Russia was at the same time a citizen of the Soviet Union. More than 70 percent of the citizens of the RSFSR at the referendum on March 17, 1991, confirmed their desire to remain citizens of the USSR.
Belovezhie overnight undermined one of the main foundations of the legal status of an individual - the institution of citizenship, thereby creating a chain reaction that we see today in disputes about it. Suffice it to say that 25 million Russians turned out to be foreigners on their land in one night.
Later, in his message to the Federal Assembly on February 16, 1995, B. Yeltsin admits that
“The loss of a part of the people in the rejected territory is the same damage to the state as the loss, for example, of a hand for a person.For the same reason, actions aimed at rejecting a part of the state territory should be considered a crime against the state as a whole. ".
Thus, B. Yeltsin himself assessed his actions, calling them criminal.
The president's actions destroyed the age-old traditions of coexistence of the peoples of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union, interpersonal relations, including in the economic, social, scientific and defense spheres. The freedom of citizens of the once united state to move, choose a place of residence, and an unhindered, customs-free exchange of labor products was limited. This also showed Boris Yeltsin's arrogance and heartlessness towards people, his abuse of power.
Did the president of Russia with any authority to sign the Belovezhskaya agreements that led to the final destruction of the USSR?
There can be only one answer to this question: no, did not possess... The overwhelming majority of the Soviet people refused him this. Therefore, the very violation of the will of the people by Boris Yeltsin, expressed at the national referendum in March 1991, is already a criminal act. The actions of the president went far beyond the scope of his powers stipulated by the Constitutions of the USSR and the RSFSR, the Law "On the President of the Russian Federation", and other legislative acts.
Undoubtedly, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, controlled by the president's supporters, played their negative role in the destruction of the union state. However, this in no way diminishes the responsibility of the president himself.
In addition, let us note to our opponents that the Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Russian Federation, adopted on June 12, 1990 by the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, states that Russia remains a member of the renewed USSR.
As you know, the Union Treaty of 1922 was signed first by six republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia that were part of the Transcaucasian Federation, and then nine more republics that made up the USSR joined it. Moreover, this treaty was fully included as an integral part of the first Constitution of the USSR in 1924. Later, its main provisions were reproduced in the Constitutions of the USSR of 1936 and 1977, individual provisions were also enshrined in the constitutions of the union republics.
The union treaty of 1922 and the corresponding constitutional norms never provided for its denunciation, since the treaty was primarily a document of a constituent rather than an international character. The treaty, and then the constitutions, provided only for the preservation of the right of free withdrawal from the Union for each of the union republics that entered the USSR, the order of which was regulated by the USSR Law of April 3, 1990.
The issue of leaving the republic was to be decided by a referendum. If at least two-thirds of the adult population voted for him, then the issue was to be considered by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, and then in the republics themselves. After that, a transitional period was established for a period of no more than five years, in order to clarify all the problems of an economic, financial, territorial, environmental nature that may arise in connection with the secession of the republic, as well as to resolve other disputes, primarily those claims that citizens could present. And only on the basis of the results of consideration of all these procedures, the question of the republic's secession from the Union was finally decided by the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. This order, established by the USSR Law of April 3, 1990, was completely ignored and rejected by Boris Yeltsin.
It should be noted that following this, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR adopted on December 24, 1990, three resolutions of exceptional importance, which are now rarely mentioned.
First ruling: on the preservation of the USSR as a renewed Federation of equal sovereign republics.
Second decree: on the preservation of the name of the state - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Third ruling: on holding a referendum in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Such a referendum, as you know, took place on March 17, 1991. Of the 185.6 million citizens of the USSR with the right to vote, 148.5 million, or 80 percent, took part in it. Of these, 113.5 million, or 76.4 percent, voted for the preservation of the USSR.
In accordance with Article 29 of the Referendum Law, his decision was binding throughout the country and could only be canceled or changed through another referendum. The law obliged all state bodies, organizations and all officials without exception to carry out the decision of the referendum, for it was the highest and direct expression of the power of the people.
Therefore, the Belovezhskaya Agreements signed by Yeltsin, which announced that the USSR as a subject of international law and as a geopolitical reality ceases to exist, are illegal and contrary to the will of the people.
In addition, the decisions of Belovezhskaya Pushcha were signed by only three "founding fathers" of the CIS, and not six, let alone fifteen. Under such circumstances, they had no right to liquidate the USSR as a geopolitical concept.
B. Yeltsin's actions to destroy the USSR were deliberate, deliberate and are not a statement of the natural disintegration of the union state, as our opponents claim. This is evidenced by the abundant evidence. We will only refer to some of them.
The destruction of the great country was accomplished by Boris Yeltsin in collusion with the separatists of a number of Union republics. It was they who kindled national conflicts in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, in the Baltic States and Moldova, and in Russia itself. It was they who turned the national question into an instrument of destruction, not creation, into an instrument for the conquest of power.
Boris Yeltsin has long and consistently walked towards the destruction of the USSR, as evidenced by his own statements. Speaking on May 30, 1990 at the first Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, he said:
"Russia will be independent in everything, and its decisions should be higher than the allies".
"The original version of my program - seven Russian states."
And a day later, speaking in the Komi Republic, he noted that Russia would abandon the union structure of power.
People from the close circle of the president, his spiritual and ideological mentors, spoke and acted in the same vein.
Odious personalities from among the former USSR people's deputies who were part of the notorious interregional deputy group - Gavriil Popov, Galina Starovoitova, Gennady Burbulis and others - directly proclaimed the idea of creating more than 50 independent states on the territory of the Soviet Union.
Former associate of the president Ruslan Khasbulatov, describing the assassination of the USSR, said:
"We wanted to do this coup."
"Coup" or "Transition to a new qualitative state" — named these acts and the former chairman of the Yeltsin Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Ivan Silaev.
Grigory Yavlinsky, who was part of Boris Yeltsin's team, argued:
“Boris Nikolayevich and his inner circle had clear political guidelines ...
First of all - in the literal sense, in one day, not only the political, but also the economic collapse of the Union, the elimination of all conceivable coordinating economic bodies, including the financial, credit and monetary spheres.
Further - the all-round separation of Russia from all the republics, including those that did not raise such a question at that time, for example, Belarus and Kazakhstan. That was the political order. "
This revelation of the leader of the Yabloko party can be read in Literaturnaya Gazeta, N ° 44, 1992.
Almost a year before the political destruction of the USSR, the Congress of the so-called democratic forces, held on January 21, 1991 in Kharkov, decided to abolish the USSR. Prominent democrats of Russia took part in its work: Yuri Afanasyev, Nikolai Travkin (he is sitting in our hall), Bella Denisenko, Arkady Murashev and others.
The author of this concept, Gennady Burbulis, Boris Yeltsin's ideological mentor and former Russian secretary of state, regretted very much that it was not possible to immediately implement the instructions of the congress. Boris Yeltsin also regretted this, as you can see by reading the newspaper Izvestia of December 17, 1991 and Nezavisimaya Gazeta of January 21, 1992. And if today the procedure for the removal of the president meets with stiff resistance, this is largely due to the fact that here, in the hall of the State Duma, and within the walls of the Federation Council, there is still a significant number of persons, representatives of parties and movements who, together with Boris Yeltsin, have nominated and implemented the idea of destroying the USSR.
Thus, answering our opponents, we declare once again that the Soviet Union collapsed not as a result of natural and logical processes, not as a result of the August events of 1991, but as a result of a political conspiracy. "Fifth column", with the connivance, and in some cases the participation of the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev, the heads of a number of Union ministries and departments, as a result of a conspiracy headed by B. Yeltsin.
In March 1991, at a meeting with Muscovites at the House of Cinema, he openly opposed a referendum on the future of the USSR. And then, hastily, using the powers of the president, he took new steps to destroy the union state.
On August 20 and 22, 1991, he issues a decree on the reassignment of all executive bodies of the USSR, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB.
On August 21 and 22, Yeltsin's decrees transferred allied media outlets to the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Press and Mass Media.
On August 22, a decree was issued on some issues of the activities of the authorities of the RSFSR. Contrary to the Constitutions of the RSFSR and the USSR, this decree granted the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR the right to suspend the action of resolutions and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR.
On August 24, a decree was issued on the transfer of all types of government communications of the USSR to the KGB of the RSFSR, and to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications of the RSFSR (it was called - for communications, informatics and space) - all other communications enterprises under the Union subordination.
On October 1, the government of the RSFSR establishes that the decisions of the Union Committee for the Operational Management of the National Economy of the USSR come into effect only if they are approved by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.
On October 9, 1991, the State Committee for Science and Higher Education was instructed to accept all union organizations operating in this area into its management.
On November 15, 1991, all structures, divisions and organizations of the former USSR Ministry of Finance were reassigned to the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the RSFSR. At the same time, funding of ministries and departments of the USSR is terminated, except for those to which some of the management functions of the Russian Federation have been transferred.
On November 15, all organizations of the Union prosecutor's office, including the military prosecutor's office, are reassigned to the General Prosecutor of the RSFSR.
On November 22, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR recognizes the Central Bank of Russia as the only body for monetary and foreign exchange regulation on the territory of the republic. The material and technical base and other resources of the State Bank of the USSR are transferred to him in full economic management and management.
Thus, with the personal participation and under the leadership of Yeltsin, even before the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements, the main levers of control were taken from the USSR and its bodies and the basis was prepared for the complete destruction of the union state.
Naturally, this kind of usurpation of the powers of the union bodies by the bodies of the RSFSR and the President of Russia sharply intensified centrifugal tendencies in the actions of other republics, which saw this as a threat to themselves and hastened to dissociate themselves from the union center even more rigidly. This forced a number of leaders of the union republics, in particular the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev, to resolutely oppose the transfer of union functions to the Russian parliament and the Russian leadership, and the prerogatives of the union president to the Russian president. Nazarbayev's speech took place in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 26, 1991. Later, he would also bluntly declare that without Russia there would have been no Bialowieza document and the Union would not have collapsed. ("Nezavisimaya Gazeta" dated May 6, 1992).
The actions of President Boris Yeltsin, Russian ministries and departments not only intensified centrifugal tendencies in other union republics, but also undoubtedly negatively affected the nature and results of the referendums held in the second half of 1991 in Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia. In addition, the question submitted to the Ukrainian referendum was formulated incorrectly. The citizens of Ukraine were asked not about their desire to secede from the USSR, but whether they want to live in an independent state. Naturally, there are always few or no people willing to live in a colonial or semi-colonial state.
Could the Soviet Union be saved? Yes, you can - and it had to be done. The will of the majority of the people was expressed in the All-Union referendum on March 17, 1991, and the state leaders of the USSR and Russia, if they were patriots who passionately love their Fatherland, and not groveling henchmen of the United States of America, were obliged to fulfill the people's will. If they could not, then they were obliged to resign. This did not happen.
The Belovezhskaya Agreements dealt a crushing blow to the economy and threw every Union republic back in their development. They brought incalculable and irreparable losses, troubles and suffering to tens of millions of Soviet people who today want to live freely in a single family of nations. Such a unification would have taken place long ago if it had not been for the opposition from many political elites in the former Soviet republics, and above all in the Russian Federation.
There are good reasons for the reunification of peoples, and first of all, the legal nullity of the Belovezhsky agreements and the legal inconsistency of their ratification by the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. New York, 1988.
On March 17, 1991, a referendum called "The Referendum for the Preservation of the USSR" was held.
The turnout was 80.03%: out of 185.6 million citizens of the USSR, 148.6 million took part with the right to vote. Of these, 113.5 million (78%) answered “Yes” to the question of preserving the USSR.
The question of what kind of referendum it was, by whom and why it was held, and why it ultimately contributed not to the preservation of the USSR, but to the exact opposite, is still relevant.
Counter-revolution from above.
To begin with, let's recall the situation at the time of the referendum.
Second The most powerful blow to the USSR was dealt by Khrushchev in 1956 as a result of his deceitful, treacherous anti-Stalinist report at the XX Congress of the CPSU.
Gradually, the party elite of the USSR, as a result of its irresponsibility to the people, decayed and eventually decided to "build communism" not for all citizens, but for themselves. The Union hindered this, so it had to be destroyed.
With the coming of Gorbachev to power, a complete orgy began, the details of which are in memory of many, so we will not describe everything.
Since 1985, a crazy campaign has begun to brainwash the population, discredit the Soviet Union, communism and everything connected with it. Someone will say that the people were not happy with life. Where there! Life for the people, as it turns out now, is not much worse than in Europe and much better than now. And the growth rate of the economy was good. It was just that a counter-revolution was carried out from above, nuclear propaganda strikes were inflicted on the population with fakes, forgery, American films and jeans, tons of lies and deliberate actions of discrediting (like hiding consumer goods in warehouses, etc.). The entire powerful propaganda machine worked for this. External enemies naturally helped and applauded the “fifth column” in every possible way. The people were disoriented, confused, the country was defenseless against the enemies at the very top.
Destruction under the guise of renewal.
In December 1990, the top officials already openly raised the question of destroying the USSR under the guise of reorganization.
On December 3, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR supported the concept proposed by the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev of the new draft Union Treaty and submitted it for discussion at the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
On December 24, 1990, at the initiative and insistent demand of the Traitor to the USSR M.S.Gorbachev, the deputies of the IV Congress voted in favor of the resolution (1677 deputies voted for, 32 against, 66 abstained), which stated that:
In connection with the numerous appeals of workers expressing concern about the fate of the USSR, and taking into account that the preservation of a single Union State is the most important issue of state life, affects the interests of every person, the entire population of the Soviet Union, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR decided:
1. Conduct a referendum of the USSR to resolve the issue of preserving the renewed Union as a federation of equal sovereign Soviet Socialist Republics, taking into account the voting results for each republic separately.
2. To instruct the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to determine the date of the referendum and measures to ensure it.- Resolution of the SND of the USSR of December 24, 1990 No. 1856-1
So what happens. The Soviet people do not understand what is happening. He sees how his country is being destroyed, but does not know what to do, and turns to the authorities:
“What are you doing, you bastards! Save the country! " And what do the traitor Gorbachev and the deputies answer to the people:
“Here's to you, not a country! Renewed, federation, equal, sovereign ... Get it. "
That is, it is clear that it was not possible to completely dirtied their brains, the people demand from the authorities to save the Motherland, so the authorities decided to finish off the Motherland under the guise of an expression of the will of the people.
See how irresponsible deputies of the Supreme Council meanly shift responsibility for the country from themselves to the people:
“Proceeding from the fact that no one, except the people themselves, can take on historical responsibility for the fate of the USSR, in pursuance of the decision of the Fourth Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR and in accordance with the legislation on the referendum of the USSR” On January 16, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided:
1. To hold on the whole territory of the USSR on Sunday, March 17, 1991, a referendum of the USSR on the issue of preserving the USSR as a federation of equal republics.
2. Include in the ballot paper the following wording of the question to be submitted to the referendum, and the options for the voters' answers:
"Yes or no".- Decree of the USSR Armed Forces of January 16, 1991 No. 1910-1
You, the deputies of the Congress and the Supreme Soviet, are obliged to defend the country by the fact of your existence, without asking anyone about it. Why a referendum? This is what the Constitution requires of you:
Article 31. The defense of the socialist homeland is one of the most important functions of the state and is the concern of the entire people.
However, this is the result of the fact that for the highest elected government in the USSR there was no mechanism for responsibility before the people for the results of government. If the deputies at the end of their term of office could go to prison for poor results of work, if the people were not satisfied with them, then there would not be such insanity.
What thoughts arise when reading such a question? What is this vile formulation "renewed federation of equal sovereign republics."
1. Firstly, such a question made the question of the existence of the USSR legitimate in general. Before, people could not even think, "How is it, there will be no Union?" That's how! This question destroyed the USSR in the minds of people.
Imagine that during the war we had not Stalin at the head of the country, but some irresponsible bastard, such as Gorbachev or Yeltsin. The Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus have been taken, the Germans are already near Moscow, the country is in extreme tension, inspiration is required, but it does not sound like Order 227 "Not one step back!" and the following:
"Do you consider it necessary to preserve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, in which the rights and freedoms of a person of any nationality will be fully guaranteed." You can even add:
"Including German".
2. Secondly, as you have already noticed, the question is not even about preserving the USSR. Here he is, by the way, to lull the vigilance. The question is about destruction(replaced by the word "Update") The Soviet Union and the formation of something new, some kind of federation. And what is this "new"? Was this explained to people? No, they were basely deceived.
3. Thirdly... Having read the question, we have already begun to think whether this "new Union" will be or not (and why not, because the Union is better than not the Union), and here they also explain to us why this "new Union" will be better, than our Native Union, our Motherland, which is being destroyed: it will be "renewed" (which means the Native Union is backward, outdated), human rights and freedoms will be fully guaranteed in it (which means that the rights and freedoms of citizens were not guaranteed in our Native Union, or this was not done in full, everyone was deceived), and even of any nationality (which means that we did not have any friendship of peoples in our homeland, everyone was lying).
After the referendum, in the spring and summer of 1991, the Gorbachev working group within the framework of the so-called. of the Novo-Ogarev trial, a project was developed to conclude a new alliance - Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics how soft, decentralized federation .
The draft of a new treaty on the creation of the Union was initialed twice - on April 23 and June 17, 1991. The final version of the "Treaty on the Union of Sovereign States" was published in the newspaper "Pravda" on August 15. It stated:
“The states forming the Union have all the full political power, independently determine their national state structure, the system of authorities and administration, they can delegate some of their powers to other states - parties to the Treaty ... ”.
“This agreement ... comes into force from the moment of signing ... by the plenipotentiary delegations. For the states that signed it, the Treaty on the formation of the USSR of 1922 is considered to have expired from the same date. "
According to Mikhail Gorbachev, on August 20 a new union treaty was to be signed by Belarus, Kazakhstan, the RSFSR, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and in the fall Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Turkmenistan could join them.
But State Committee under a state of emergency, on August 18-21, he made an unsuccessful attempt to forcibly remove Mikhail Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR, disrupting the signing of the Union Treaty and thereby liquidating the Soviet Union:
“... Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, trampling on the newly emerging sprouts of democracy, extremist forces arose that took a course towards the elimination of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost. The results of the national referendum on the unity of the Fatherland have been trampled underfoot. "
- From the "Appeal to the Soviet people" of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR dated August 18, 1991
On September 5, 1991, the V Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR did not appease, adopting the "Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms", announced a transitional period for the formation new system state relations, preparation and signing of the Treaty on the Union of Sovereign States.
On September 6, the three Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) withdrew from the USSR.
In the fall of 1991, with the sanction of the central and republican authorities, the working group of the Novo-Ogarev process developed a new draft Treaty - to create Union of Sovereign States (SSG) like (already!) confederation independent states ("confederate state").
The preliminary consent to the conclusion on December 9, 1991 of an agreement on the creation of the SSG with the capital in Minsk was given on November 14, 1991, only by seven republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). Two republics, in which referendums on independence were held the day before (Armenia and Ukraine), refused to join the confederal union.
However, on December 8, 1991, the heads of three states (the Republic of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine) at a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, “noting that negotiations on the preparation of a new Union Treaty had reached a dead end, the objective process of the republics' withdrawal from the USSR and the formation of independent states became a real fact ”, and concluded the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States - an intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary organization that does not have the status of a state.
Thus, the treacherous Belovezhsky conspiracy of the three ghouls Shushkevich, Kravchuk and Yeltsin was only ahead of Gorbachev's team and consolidated the results of the planned destruction of the Soviet Union. And they did as they were "asked" by the people in the referendum. Well, almost like that.
Did you want a "renewed federation of equal sovereign republics"? Get your signature!
So, there is no doubt that this referendum was another incredibly dastardly subversive action of the enemies of the people against the USSR.
But there is also no doubt that the people at the referendum, for the most part, were for the preservation of the old Native USSR, their Motherland and went to vote for this.
On March 17, 1991, a referendum was held in which the majority of citizens voted for the preservation of the USSR.
In six republics (Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Moldavia, Armenia), perestroika has already done everything it needs, so the highest authorities refused to hold a referendum. That is, they thereby committed high treason and did not allow the people to express their will.
In the rest of the republics, the results were as follows.
"Do you consider it necessary to preserve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, in which the rights and freedoms of a person of any nationality will be fully guaranteed?"
Our Central Asian brothers have become a model of possessing a strong sense of statehood. They, who still preserved their communal traditions, had a much higher understanding of the need to live in a single and therefore strong country than the Russians. Unfortunately, but true.
The Belarusians were not far behind, with 83% of the votes also in favor of preserving the USSR.
Where were the more traitors?
By the level of betrayal, the capitals and the homeland of Bespaly were ahead of everyone Sverdlovsk region part.
Below is a table where republics and regions with a share of those who voted FOR higher than the average for the Union are indicated in red, and lower in blue.
As you can see, the hatred of the rest of Russia towards Muscovites is quite natural. This is where the main responsibility lies - the capital.
Please note that even in Chechen-Ingushetia, the percentage of those who voted for the preservation of the Union turned out to be higher than the national average and almost the same as in the USSR. So much for the Chechen separatists. By that time, the democrats had not yet brought the thugs by the handle or put the scumbags at the head of Chechnya.
We know from history that capturing the minds of the capital is key.
I will give an unsuccessful, in terms of motives and goals, but still indicative comparison. In the elections to the Constituent Assembly of 1817, the Bolsheviks throughout Russia gained 22.4% (the first were the Socialist-Revolutionaries - 39.5%), but they won by a large margin in Moscow (47.9%), the Moscow region (55.8%) , Petrograd (48.7%), Minsk (63.1%).
In 1991, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk region. were the leaders who voted for the introduction of the post of President of the RSFSR, and later among the leaders who voted for Yeltsin in the elections. By the way, in the presidential elections in 1991 and 77% of the Chechens, Yeltsin really liked it.
It is clear that the propaganda blow was directed at the capitals in the first place. More money was allocated, more bribery, more fraud. But still, there are actually more sincere idiots who did not want to "feed unnecessary republics."
So what happens. In general, the Soviet people, some to a lesser extent, some to a greater extent, withstood a nuclear attack on their consciousness and intuitively understood that they were being deceived, therefore they supported the preservation of the Soviet Union.
But it was not enough to vote, what is it generally to vote for the preservation of the Union, when "the Germans are already near Moscow", or rather in the Kremlin, at the very top. It is pointless. It was necessary to fight for the Union, including with arms in hand. After all, this was demanded of all citizens by the Constitution of the USSR.
Article 62. A citizen of the USSR is obliged to protect the interests of the Soviet state, to help strengthen its power and authority.The defense of the socialist homeland is the sacred duty of every citizen of the USSR.Treason to the Motherland is the gravest crime against the people.
It is clear that there were no leaders, that was not, that was not, but Yanaev's hands were shaking ... But you, so brave, why did everything shake then? Or, worse, why didn't you care? Why did everyone unanimously forget about their main duty as a Citizen?
