Crimea was always Russian since 1783, then Russian Empire under Katherine the Great. In 1954 Khrushchev put Crimea under Ukraine when it was of USSR. I say put not gave because it was done illegally.
The question is complicated.
How Khrushchev
gave Crimea to Ukraine
Stalin was
against it, Voroshilov predicted, the head of the peninsula was dismissed
To share
Read us in
19.02.2023 00:00
Author: Alexander
Mashchenko
Nikita Khrushchev
© RIA Novosti
On February 19,
1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On
the transfer of the Crimean Region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR".
Then, 69 years ago, it seemed that nothing special had happened. The peninsula
was only transferred from one fraternal union republic to another, and even
" in commemoration of the tercentenary of the reunification of Ukraine
with Russia." This step was intended to " strengthen the boundless
trust and sincere love of the Russian people for the Ukrainian people."
What really happened in 1954, Crimeans understood only after the collapse of
the USSR. It was then that it became clear that Nikita Khrushchev's ceremonial
gesture distorted the fate of hundreds of thousands of people who suddenly turned
out to be citizens of another, hostile state.
Economic excuses
"After the
revolution, the Bolsheviks, for various reasons, may God be their judge,
included large territories of the historical south of Russia in the Ukrainian
Union Republic. This was done without taking into account the national
composition of the inhabitants, and today it is the modern south-east of
Ukraine. And in 1954, the decision was made to transfer the Crimean region to
it, and at the same time Sevastopol was transferred, although it was then a
union subordination. The initiator was personally the head of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev. What motivated them — the desire to
enlist the support of the Ukrainian nomenclature or to make amends for
organizing mass repressions in Ukraine in the 30s-let historians deal with
this, "Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the Crimean speech on
March 18, 2014. "In people's minds, Crimea has always been and remains an
integral part of Russia."
Together with
historians and politicians of the past and present, we tried to understand how
the decision was made in 1954, which eventually turned into upheavals on a
global scale without exaggeration.
"Scientists
have identified several reasons that could have guided Khrushchev, "Professor
Sergey Yurchenko, a well-known Crimean historian, told the Parliamentary
Gazette. — Perhaps the most convincing of them is that it was really more
convenient to implement such large-scale infrastructure projects for the
revival of Ukraine and the Crimea bordering it, such as the construction of the
Kakhovsky reservoir and the North Crimean Canal, within the framework of one
administrative-territorial entity. Khrushchev had worked in Ukraine for many
years and was well aware of both its problems and its potential. The
tercentenary of the Pereyaslavl Rada, which made it possible to beautifully
decorate the decision, was also very appropriate."
American
historian William Taubman, who spent many years studying the life and work of
Nikita Khrushchev, claims that the idea of transferring Crimea to Ukraine was
born in 1944 after the expulsion of Tatars from the peninsula, accused of mass
collaboration with the Nazis during the occupation. "Before the transfer
of Crimea to Ukraine was still ten years away, but already in 1944, Khrushchev
tried to do something similar. Crimea needed Ukrainian peasants to take the
place of the Crimean Tatars exiled by Stalin. While in Moscow, Khrushchev told
a Ukrainian colleague a year later, he turned to Stalin with these words::
"Ukraine is in ruins, and everyone is pulling out of it. But if you give
her the Crimea, is it a small intestine?" — said Taubman in the book
"Khrushchev: a man and his era".
This version is
confirmed in his memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev's son Sergey. According to him,
Nikita Sergeyevich, who was assigned by Stalin to deal with the restoration of
Crimea after the war, was constantly faced with bureaucratic delays and
ambitions due to the fact that the peninsula was part of the RSFSR, and the
neighboring regions were part of the Ukrainian SSR, and once suggested that the
leader "cut all the knots, reassign Crimea to Ukraine." "Stalin
refused," writes Sergey. - why? Don't know. My father never told me."
The age of great
achievements and unjustified expectations
A matter of
fifteen minutes
However,
Khrushchev did not forget his idea and returned to it shortly after Stalin's
death. "In October 1953, immediately after his election as first secretary
of the CPSU Central Committee and, in fact, just before the decision to
transfer Crimea to Ukraine was made, Khrushchev visited the peninsula. We know
about this trip from the memoirs of his son — in-law, the famous Soviet
journalist Sergei Adzhubey," Yurchenko said.
After getting
bored on vacation at the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka, Khrushchev decided to go
with the then chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Georgy Malenkov
to the steppe Crimea for a couple of days, and Adzhubey asked for it with them.
According to him, the trip brought the new Soviet party leader into despondency
— Crimea lay in desolation, which was especially striking just in the steppe
part. Most of all, Nikita Sergeyevich was allegedly upset by the crowds of
immigrants from the northern Russian regions, who complained that they were tricked
into coming to the peninsula, where neither potatoes nor cabbage grow.
Khrushchev flew
straight from Crimea to Kiev without warning. Over lunch at the Mariinsky
Palace, Nikita Sergeyevich kept returning to his trip to the peninsula and
persuading Ukrainians to help revive the region. "There, southerners are
needed who like gardens, corn, and not potatoes," he allegedly complained.
At the same time, the formal transfer of Crimea under the jurisdiction of
Ukraine was not discussed at the table. Apparently, such a proposal has not yet
received its meaning, Ajubey argued.
According to the
historian Dmitry Volkogonov, by the end of 1953, after dealing with Beria and
becoming the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Khrushchev felt
like the sole leader of the country.
"The first
secretary, after talking with Malenkov in December 1953 and meeting no serious
opposition on the issue of the transfer of the Crimean region, in the tone of
an order, proposed to the chairman of the Council of Ministers:
- Let's not delay
this decision. We will discuss this issue at one of the next meetings of the
Central Committee Presidium…
Malenkov
immediately agreed. It was clear to him that Khrushchev had already
imperceptibly pushed him into the second or third roles, "Volkogonov wrote
in the book"Seven Leaders".
The question
"On the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian
SSR" was submitted to the meeting of the Presidium of the Central
Committee on January 25, 1954 and was on the agenda under the passage number
eleven. The review took fifteen minutes. They decided to " approve the
draft Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the transfer
of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR."
(Population
census data)
Titov's demarche
And on February
19, a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was held in
the Kremlin. His transcript is read today, in the days of a special military
operation, with amazing feelings.
Mikhail Tarasov,
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, says: "The
issue of transferring the Crimean Region to the Ukrainian Republic is being
considered in the days when the peoples of the Soviet Union celebrate a
significant event — the tercentenary of the reunification of Ukraine with
Russia, which played a huge progressive role in the political, economic and
cultural development of the Ukrainian and Russian people."
In response,
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR Demyan
Korotchenko expresses his heartfelt gratitude to the great Russian people for
an exceptionally remarkable act of fraternal assistance. According to him, the
transfer of Crimea to Ukraine is the greatest friendly act, testifying to the
boundless trust and love of the Russian people for the Ukrainian people.
Chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Uzbekistan Sharaf Rashidov claims that such
a solution is possible only in our country, where there is no national discord
and national contradictions. The last speaker is Chairman of the Presidium of
the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov. Speaking about the
significance of Crimea for our country, he, of course, without realizing it,
prophetically remarks:: "Both in the distant and recent past, enemies have
repeatedly tried to take the Crimean Peninsula from Russia, use it to plunder
and ruin Russian and Ukrainian lands, and create a military base there to
attack Russia and Ukraine..."
The short text of
the decree adopted at the meeting read: "Taking into account the common
economy, territorial proximity and close economic and cultural ties between the
Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR decides: to approve the joint submission of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the
Ukrainian SSR on the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the
Ukrainian SSR."
On April 26, the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the law "On the transfer of the Crimean
Region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR" and decided to make appropriate
changes to Articles 22 and 23 of the Constitution of the USSR. Both the
February decree and the April law are signed by the official head of the Soviet
state, Kliment Voroshilov.
The transfer of
Crimea to Ukraine went smoothly. The overwhelming majority thought that this
was just a technical solution within a single union state. However, there were
people in the party leadership who realized that in the future this may turn
out to be difficult to predict consequences. Pavel Titov, the first secretary
of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPSU, spoke out against it, for which
he was removed from office. True, the times were no longer as harsh as under
Stalin, and instead of Kolyma, Titov was sent to work in ... Moscow - as Deputy
Minister of Agriculture of the RSFSR. In Crimea, this act is remembered. After
the peninsula was reunited with Russia in 2014, the Russian community of the
peninsula, led by Senator Sergey Tsekov, launched an initiative to perpetuate
the memory of Pavel Titov.
"Unfortunately,
the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine was carried out in a hurry, without
calculating the possible consequences and without strict compliance with all
legal procedures," says Sergey Yurchenko.
Due to his lack
of education, Khrushchev simply could not imagine what this would turn out in
the future. "Ignorance, like the midwife of adventurism, subjectivism,
lightness, more than once put Khrushchev in the position of an inglorious loser
and a fool. Historically, this is exactly what his decision on Crimea looks
like, " Dmitry Volkogonov admitted.
An example of
Khrushchev's understanding of the role and significance of Crimea can be found
in the book of his memoirs: "There is no forbidden zone and no secrets on
the territory of Crimea, except for submarine parking lots. Yes, and these
submarines cat cried. In our strategic concept, the Black Sea was not given a
significant role. The military disdainfully called him a puddle. It is shot
through by missiles, crossed by planes in all directions, so it is almost
impossible for ships to survive in it."
Contrary to the
law
In his Crimean
speech, Vladimir Putin noted that "this decision was made with obvious
violations of the constitutional norms that were in force even then. The issue
was resolved behind the scenes, between parties. Naturally, in the conditions
of a totalitarian state, the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol were not asked
about anything. Just put before the fact."
In 1992, the
Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation even passed a resolution on the legal
assessment of decisions of the highest state authorities of the RSFSR to change
the status of Crimea, in which it recognized them as having no legal force, but
Yeltsin and company simply dismissed that document.
Chairman of the
State Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov also drew attention to legal
violations in a comment to the Parliamentary Gazette. "The fact is that
under Soviet law, making decisions on the transfer of territory and changing
borders fell within the competence of the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the
Union republics — the highest state authorities, and not the presidencies and
governments. This follows from articles 49 of the Constitution of the USSR, 33
of the Constitution of the RSFSR, and 30 of the Constitution of the Ukrainian
SSR. It turns out that the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the
USSR "On the transfer of the Crimean Region from the RSFSR to the
Ukrainian SSR" was issued by an unauthorized body and in violation of the
procedure established by the Basic Law, like all other acts of the Union
republics ' presidencies devoted to this topic. In legal terms, they are
insignificant, " explained Konstantinov.
Vladimir
Konstantinov
© press service
of the State Council of Crimea
But this is not
all, the politician continued: decisions on changing the borders of the RSFSR
and the Ukrainian SSR were not taken at all — neither by the presidium nor by
the supreme Soviets, although this is legally the most important and directly
prescribed by the constitutions of the USSR, RSFSR, and Ukrainian SSR component
of the question of transferring and including the territory into the borders of
another republic.
At the same time,
the acts on the transfer of Crimea do not guarantee the language, cultural,
religious and other rights of Crimeans on the part of the host Union republic,
Konstantinov noted. This allowed the Kiev authorities to conduct various kinds
of cultural experiments on the peninsula back in Soviet times. Well, after
Ukraine gained independence, a real cultural expansion began. It was carried
out by the method of " creeping Ukrainization — - gradually limiting the
scope of the Russian language, trying to oust Russian culture from education
and everyday life of Crimeans, and transform their historical memory.
Crimeans were
forced to defend their right to be themselves within the legal framework of
Ukraine — as long as it was possible. It was for this purpose that on January
20, 1991, Crimeans held a referendum on restoring the republican status of the
peninsula, developed republican legislation, including their own Constitution.
Official Kiev responded to this with a number of illegal actions, narrowing to
the limit the possibilities of Crimeans to defend their cultural and
civilizational identity by peaceful means.
When Ukraine
plunged into legal chaos and political arbitrariness in 2014, Crimeans
themselves — through a popular vote-decided their fate.
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