Cowardice, deception and self-interest. The true history of Ukrainian "nezalezhnost"

In the course of the pompous celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's "independence" this week, an incredible number of loud speeches were delivered, in the opinion of the speakers, befitting such a "unique" occasion. Needless to say, all these words were as deceitful as they were pathetic? Ukrainian “patriots” are trying to teach the “acquisition of statehood” by their country as a kind of “great feat”, the result of a “desperate struggle” and the fruit of “age-old dreams” of the people who inhabited this territory. In fact, everything was not just a little different, but completely, absolutely, categorically not so!

Perhaps, if Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many other public figures of the "nezalezhnoy" would not have carried such blatant nonsense from the highest stands with a solemn air and would have lied at least a little less shamelessly, this topic could not have been raised at all. After all, almost every state has its own "skeletons in the closet" of varying degrees of prescription. However, absolutely rabid rhetoric, which is heard louder and louder from Kiev, simply leaves no choice. So let's try, at least in the most general outline, to remember how and from what the “non-profit” of Ukraine was actually molded.

Courage "in hindsight"

We should start here with the fateful days of August 1991, marked by the creation in Moscow of the State Committee for the State of Emergency, which we have recalled not so long ago. If we follow the version of the current adherents of glorification of "borni for nezalezhnost" (they call it that), then it is easy to assume that the entire population of the then Ukrainian SSR and, first of all, its "политическая the elite "united in a united formation against the" anti-constitutional coup "and announced their own categorical unwillingness to remain in the" Soviet prison of peoples "for a day. Naturally, understanding the possible consequences of such a step - up to the attempts of the "center" to suppress such inclinations by armed means.


It should be said that nothing of the kind actually happened even close. What kind of "decisive opposition to the Emergency Committee" is there about which they are trying to broadcast in Ukraine today ?! Yes, in those days, not a single mongrel barked in the direction of Moscow from Kiev! But I would try ... The fact is that on August 19, even before the official statement on the creation of the State Committee began to sound from all televisions and radio receivers, Valentin Varennikov, Deputy Minister of Defense, came to the Ukrainian capital. USSR, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. He flew there straight from Foros, where he participated in the negotiations of the future "putschists" with Mikhail Gorbachev, who flatly refused to stand at the head of the Emergency Committee. Before moving on to recollections of the essence and meaning of the general's "Ukrainian mission", it is imperative to say a few words about himself. After all, Varennikov was a man and a military leader, perhaps unique even for that time.

Not only did he go through the Great Patriotic War from Stalingrad to Berlin. Subsequently, Valery Varennikov "noted" in all, practically military conflicts, where the USSR took part, either explicitly or secretly. Ethiopia, Syria, Angola ... And, of course, Afghanistan, where he was the head of the Control Group of the USSR Ministry of Defense. He also supervised the actions of the military during the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. That is, he was not just a high-ranking Soviet military leader vested with colossal powers, but also a person with vast and very versatile combat experience.

Alas, the general was not sophisticated in political intrigue, in contrast to military affairs. He arrived in Kiev with an absolutely clear program of action for the local authorities: to support the State Emergency Committee, and at the same time, "for safety reasons" introduce a state of emergency in the capital and the Western regions. It is now Leonid Kravchuk, a gelding who headed the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR at that time, and he says that he “proudly threw words about the illegality of the actions of the State Emergency Committee” both in the face of Varennikov, who was in his office, and who called on the “Kremlin” with the same recommendations to the chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Vladimir Kryuchkov. I would dare - the consequences could be the most dire. According to the available information, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces previously held an appropriate conversation with the commanders of all Ukrainian military districts - Kiev, Odessa and Carpathian, and ordered them to put the troops on high alert. There is no doubt that in the event of a vybryka of the Kiev authorities, further orders could well have been given to them.

"Let's better sit out!"

In reality, the position taken then by Leonid Kravchuk, who reasonably feared for the safety of his own precious skin, was an example of half-heartedness and spinelessness: neither "yes", "no", not "for" or "against", neither ours, nor yours. ... The same Varennikov, following the results of the negotiations, reported to Moscow that the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was only asking "to send him the relevant documents of the State Emergency Committee" and at least to consult with him about where and when to declare a state of emergency on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR. Moreover, Kravchuk, who appeared on the republican television at 16 pm on August 19, did not condemn the Moscow events in a word or a half-word, and, moreover, did not even hint about any "coup" or "coup".

Generally speaking, the person who represented the supreme power in the republic at that time asked his compatriots "not to succumb to provocations", in no case to organize any demonstrations and rallies, and best of all - to do their usual daily activities, especially focusing on harvesting. At the same time, he assured them that no one would introduce any state of emergency on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR. For now, at least ... In fact, his speech boiled down to an appeal: "Let's sit on the sidelines for now and see how it all ends!" At the same time, on the 19th and over the next few days, all the central media of Ukraine regularly “relayed to the masses” the documents and orders of the State Committee for the State of Emergency, thereby, in fact, working for it. Kravchuk himself, speaking on the same fateful day, on August 19 in the all-Union program "Vremya" in the purest Russian uttered: "What should have happened!" A fighter, definitely ...

The position of the Ukrainian leadership has changed, and abruptly, by all 180 degrees, as you might guess, after it became clear that nothing good would come of the GKChP. It was here that a great many party and state functionaries, who actually supported what had already been publicly announced as a "coup", became really scary. The number of those who were seriously scared was huge - in fact, in fact, only the regional councils of Western Ukraine and for some reason Donetsk officially opposed the actions of the State Emergency Committee. All the rest were in favor. But what can I say, if the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR on August 20 adopted a statement that only postponed the official recognition of the State Emergency Committee until the adoption of an appropriate decision by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. And also banned all demonstrations and strikes on the territory of the republic.

This is the key! The "Act of Independence of Ukraine" proclaimed on August 24 by a hastily convened session of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR is by no means the handiwork of "nationalists" or "democrats", who did not have such a majority, but Ukrainian communists, who were terrified of Boris Yeltsin's coming to power ( and this option was then at the level of the USSR more than possible) and the arrests that began in Moscow. When the first blood was shed - the same Boris Pugo, fear grew into panic horror. They fled not from the GKChP, but just from its winners! The words about the "mortal danger hanging over Ukraine", with which the above-mentioned document began, were pure fiction and a shift from a sore head to a healthy one. Nothing came close to threatening anyone, except for the Ukrainian communists who “put” on the wrong government and did nothing for its victory.

"We lied to everyone in 1991"

It was with such a completely obvious, but in his mouth sounding a real sensation, revelation that Kravchuk's successor at the post of head of "non-foreign" Ukraine, its second president, Leonid Kuchma, made a revelation this year. Apparently, this figure had in mind those leaflets and other "propaganda", tons of which were literally overwhelmed by the Ukrainians on the eve of the referendum on the country's independence on December 1, 1991, which was urgently needed by Kiev before the treacherous conspiracy that was already being prepared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It would seem, what is there to ask if, at a similar event held on March 17, 1991, the absolute majority of the citizens of the Ukrainian SSR unequivocally spoke in favor of preserving the Soviet Union?

However, 8 months later, 90% of them (at least, according to official data), without thinking about the possible consequences, will vote for "nezalezhnost". It must be admitted: the campaign to "brainwash" the Ukrainians and "wind up" in them the desire to get rid of Moscow and other "freeloaders" was carried out so massively that it was difficult to resist. People who were tired of Gorbachev's mess and artificially created deficits were hard pressed into their heads: that the whole problem is that "a country with European capabilities remains a Moscow colony." They were convinced that Ukraine, which produces all types of agricultural and industrial products on its territory, will certainly "fill up" the world markets with cheap and high-quality goods, after which it will roll like cheese in butter - as soon as other union republics stop "robbing" it, and, before total, Russia. At the same time, it was completely hushed up that the country does not have the main thing - its own reserves of energy resources.

As the same Leonid Kuchma admitted, the representatives of the newborn Ukrainian "political elite" knew this for sure - carried out back in 1989 by the local Institute economics the analysis showed that in the event of a break in relations with Moscow, the economic balance would be extremely unfavorable for Kiev. Indeed, the low cost of products manufactured in Ukraine, according to the ex-president, was ensured by the fact that the republic "received oil and gas at prices that were cheaper than tap water." In Kiev, they knew this, but they still bent their line on "non-profit".

However, those who did this can be understood. The overwhelming majority of the "founding fathers" of Ukraine definitely did not go to waste. Total poverty, the loss of all savings accumulated over a long working life - this did not affect them in the least. The country really had the richest industrial and infrastructural potential - those who plundered and destroyed all this, the colossal wealth created during the years of the USSR, was more than enough. In fact, only now, 30 years later, the final crash and collapse came. However, for the people, the reckoning for the cunning, meanness and deceit of politicians came almost instantly. The collapse of the economy that followed, as soon as Kiev began to receive energy resources at the same "world prices" about which it dreamed so much, hyperinflation, mass unemployment, rampant crime - all this fell to the lot of ordinary Ukrainians, who naively believed in 1991 fairy tales about the "European future "And rivers of milk in the jelly banks.

The most surprising thing about this sad story is that it repeated itself (and repeats itself!) More than once in the history of "non-existent" Ukraine with certain variations! All the same calls to get rid of the "Moscow occupation" and oath promises of "European prospects" are being heard. And again there are those who believe them! However, this is a completely different story.