The politics of state building: Centre‐periphery relations in Post‐Soviet Ukraine

Abstract

A FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE confronting the newly independent Ukrainian state is the preservation of its territorial integrity in the face of claims by neighbouring countries and regional movements supporting one or another form of self-determination. The problem can be viewed from several perspectives. First, there is the question of Russia's claims to territory presently within the boundaries of Ukraine. To date such claims have not been made on an official, inter-state level, although in the aftermath of Ukraine's declaration of independence on 24 August 1991 the Russian parliament as well as leading Russian political figures, including President El'tsin, have raised the question of reviewing borders between the two countries. A case in point is Crimea, which was transferred from the RSFSR to Ukraine in 1954 and which has now become enmeshed in the Ukrainian-Russian dispute over the Black Sea Fleet. Such heavily Russian and linguistically Russified areas as the Donbass and parts of