Russia aside, the Ukraine is by far the
most important Soviet successor state. Larger than France, its
population is about equal to that of Britain, Italy, or France.
Noted for its fertile black soil as well as its literate and skilled
people, the Ukraine has enormous industrial, agricultural, and
technological potential.
Ukraine literally means "borderland." The common border
of both Eastern and Central Europe, it is a remarkable new presence
between Germany and Russia. The vital question is whether it will
become the buckle linking the formerly divided halves of Europe.
Neither the Ukraine nor Russia can be understood apart from each
other. Their relations will determine the post-Soviet order and
the security of Europe. President Yeltsin supported Ukrainian
independence in 1991, and accommodated an independent Ukraine
thereafter. So the pattern of Russian-Ukrainian relations has
been utterly unlike that of Serbia's relations with Croatia and
Bosnia. By 1996, all nuclear warheads had been removed to Russia.
In 1997, agreement was reached on the Black Sea Fleet, and Russia
recognized the political and territorial integrity of the Ukraine,
including the Russian-populated Crimean Peninsula where Ukrainian
and Russian ships share the port of Sevastopol.
Not all is well however. Heavily dependent on Russia for trade
and fuel, the Ukraine's economy has been in worse shape than Russia's.
The so-called "Red-Brown" (communist-nationalist) forces
that dominated Russia's parliament asserted claims on Russian-inhabited
Ukrainian
territory, especially the Crimea. And Ukrainian national unity
is beset by serious religious conflicts between the Ukrainian
Catholic Church (Uniate), the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox
Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Despite its importance, the Ukraine remains virtually unknown-invisible
even to many who are otherwise attuned to European affairs-yet
we cannot afford to ignore it when its fate will so greatly affect
the West. A place in the European Union and the Western Alliance
should certainly be held out as a prospect for the Ukraine.
John R. Crutcher is an associate professor of Political Science. He has been with the Assumption College Department of Political Science since 1967. John received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. John teaches courses in Russian and Post-Soviet Politics, American Foreign Policy, and Peace and War in the 20th Century, among others.