Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UUkraiiniian G
al Sociiety (
ht-
n Genealo
alogiical & His
al & Historiical So
Guides
Actiive Uk
e Ukraiine (
www.activeukraine.com
)
Lviv E
iv Ecotouur (
www.lvivecotour.com
)
West Uk
t Ukraiine T
e Touurs (
www.west-ukraine-tours.com/
)
Ale
Alex D
x Duunaii (
www.alexdunai.com
)
Independent Ukraine
With the nationalist movement snowballing and the USSR disintegrating, many politi-
cians within the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) saw the writing on the wall. After
the Soviet counter-coup in Moscow in August 1991 failed, they decided that if they
didn't take their country to independence, the opposition would. So, on 24 August 1991,
the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) met, with speaker Stanyslav Hurenko's wonder-
fully pithy announcement recorded by the
Economist
for posterity: 'Today we will vote
for Ukrainian independence, because if we don't we're in the shit.' In December some
84% of the population voted in a referendum to back that pragmatic decision, and former
CPU chairman Leonid Kravchuk was elected president.
As the new republic found its feet, there were more than the usual separation traumas
from Russia. Disagreements and tensions arose, particularly over ownership of the Black
Sea Fleet harboured in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. These were only resolved in 1999
by offering Russia a lease until 2017, controversially extended by the new government in
2010 to 2042.
Economic crisis forced Kravchuk's government to resign in September 1992. Leonid
Kuchma, a pro-Russian reformer, came to power in July 1994 and stayed for 10 years.
During Kuchma's tenure, the economy did improve. The hryvnya was introduced and
inflation was lowered from a spiralling 10,000% in 1993 to 5.2% in 2004, by which time
GDP was growing at a rate of 9%. Kuchma's reign is also remembered for its extreme
cronyism. Foreign investors complained that companies being privatised were often sold
to Ukrainian ventures with presidential connections, sometimes for well under market
value, and international watchdog Transparency International named Ukraine the world's
third most corrupt country.
