Russia and Ukraine Ten Years After the Fall of the Communist Regimes: Similarities and Differences

Ukraine made a considerable contribution to the collapse of the USSR. The continued existence of the Soviet empire was unthinkable without its participation. If Ukraine had not become fully autonomous, an alliance of the three eastern Slavic peoples would have been likely—that is, an abridged version of the USSR. After the August 1991 putsch, all the union republics except Russia seceded from the Soviet Union. According to political reality, Ukraine's independence meant its separation from Russia, since the USSR had in fact already ceased to exist by the autumn of 1991. Under Yeltsin, Russia, in a sense, swallowed up the USSR.