Instead of the foreword
The current president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, called the collapse of the Soviet Union the biggest geopolitical mistake of the 20th century. And the Bialowieza Agreement, and, as a result of it, the formation of the CIS failed to fix it.
Cause and effect
History has proven that no matter how strong an empire is, it goes through three main stages: generation, flowering, and extinction. The largest power of the 20th century, the Soviet Union, was no exception. Born in the bloody torment of revolution and civil war, passing through the cruelties of collectivization and famine, the genocide of Stalinist repressions, total devastation and poverty, who defeated the most terrible war at that time - World War II, turned into ruins and, like the Phoenix, rose from the ashes, and he turned out to be a colossus with feet of clay, obeyed the general law of genesis and broke up 21 years ago.
There were serious preconditions for such an event, and one of the main ones was the relentless rivalry of the USSR and the USA, Moscow and Washington.
During the Cold War, the West realized one truth for itself: the Soviet Union cannot be defeated by military means, it can only be shaken economically, and it is best to find allies for this within the USSR itself. And indeed, they were found - in the person of some leaders of the Union republics.
The goals of the West were very clear. But what motivated the heads of government of individual "sister republics"? As it turned out, the notorious ancient principle: "divide and conquer." Yes, they were tired of being subordinate to the main Center - Moscow, they wanted to become the rulers of their own estates, to live “beautifully and freely”, as America propagated.
Breaking through to power in the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin really wanted to be the head of state. Similar goals were cherished by the leaders of other influential regions. But they did not shine in the conditions of the existence of the Soviet Union. There was only one thing left - to conspire in order to eliminate the integrity of the country, especially since in the Soviet Constitution, adopted on October 7, in 1977, each republic was considered a sovereign state and had the right to freely secede from the USSR.
Struggle for...?
President Gorbachev tried to prevent the collapse of the Union, to preserve the unity of the state. For this, on March 17, 1991, an All-Union referendum was held, at which most citizens spoke out in favor of preserving their country. On the 20th of August of the 91st, the signing of a new Union Treaty was planned. But it turned out to be foiled by a putsch that went down in history under the name of the Emergency Committee. At the same time, on August 24, 1991, Ukraine adopted the Declaration of Independence. On December 1, in Ukraine, simultaneously with the presidential elections, a referendum was held on the independence of Ukraine from Russia and other republics. The main question was formulated florid enough to confuse people who were not sophisticated in the intricacies of political games and formulations. Therefore, 90% of those who voted supported the idea of independence, especially since the question was about maintaining allied relations with the former republics. In preparing the referendum, a broad nationalist campaign was carried out, the essence of which was reduced to the thesis-appeal: “Enough to feed Moscow!” If you pick up the unique document of those years - campaign leaflets distributed free of charge on the streets of the populated centers of Ukraine, then we read literally the following. The appeal on the first page, in capital letters, and then the table with the text:
"CITIZENS OF UKRAINE, DO NOT LET YOURSELF DECEIVE! The production of goods per capita and the place of Ukraine among the most developed countries of the world ... ”The table indicated that Ukraine ranks 1st in terms of area compared to Germany, Japan, England, that in mining, including iron ore, and steelmaking also became 1-2 places among the listed states that the production of food, including bakery, meat and dairy products in Ukraine is many times greater than in the same countries. From the leaflet it turned out that Ukraine is the richest state that can exist on its own, feed itself and provide everything necessary for full functioning. And Ukrainians do not live richly and happily just because Russia takes everything away, that Moscow, like a giant leech, sticks to the people's body and sucks out the last: “Ukraine produces, the Union exports, and the currency is taken away by Moscow. “We and our children are left with economic ruin, genetic degeneration and poverty.” Then, in Ukrainian, there was a list of issues stating that the communists leading the Union had completely stolen, moreover, the majority of the stolen goods belong to Ukraine, that the law enforcement bodies are corrupt and pursue their own criminal interests, not observing any legal norms, but from people suffer from this, and first of all - Ukrainian. This “masterpiece” ended with a newly coded appeal: “CITIZEN OF UKRAINE, INDEPENDENT ON NATIONALITY AND PARTY ACCESSORIES! THINK BEFORE THE REFERENDUM CENTER DECIDED ON US: DO YOU NEED THE OFFERED UPDATED SSR? ”
Similar campaigns were conducted in other republics. It was suggested to people that Russia would take all the funds, and without it the era of abundance would come, as in the West. So a conspiracy was built, the result of which was the destruction of the USSR and the Bialowieza Agreement.
We realized for three ...
So, the meeting of the heads of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus - Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich - took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in the residence "Viskuli". It was there that on December 8, the 91st year, the historical signing of the Bialowieza Agreements, documents, according to which the USSR ceased to exist, and instead a community of independent states - the CIS, took place. He was later joined by another 9 union republics.
The fact that the Bialowieza Agreement is unique in its criminal essence, as well as the conspiracy itself, is evidenced by the fact that after signing all the documents, the conspirators immediately called the head of the USA George Bush Sr. and reported on their “achievements”. So to speak, they reported on the work successfully done.
And M. Gorbachev, the president of the USSR, found out about the incident only the next day. Soon after, on December 25, 1991, Gorbachev last appeared in a televised address to the Soviet people as president. He resigned from his presidency and immediately after that handed over the nuclear suitcase, and with it the entire management of nuclear forces, to Russian President B. Yeltsin.
On the evening of December 25th, many television companies of the world broadcast from Moscow about the ceremony of lowering the flag of the USSR over the Kremlin and raising the Russian tricolor instead. So, without a single shot, the largest, most powerful country in the world was destroyed. The thirst for power was stronger than common sense and patriotic convictions.
Summarizing
What did the collapse of the Union and the creation of the CIS give the former Soviet people? Alas ... While in Europe borders were erased, the European Union grew and strengthened, visa-free regimes were introduced and a common economic space was formed, solid borders and customs began to appear inside the former USSR. He lost a huge single national economic complex. The crisis of the 90s affected the well-being of citizens of all republics, from rich natural resources of Russia, industrial Ukraine, and to small poor Moldova, the same Tajikistan and others. In each newly emerged country, its own ruling elite began to form, skillfully speculating on the national issue, inciting quarrels and feuds and under this cover robbing and "grabbing" the former state property. The caste of oligarchs was born, flourishing now. The people, however, have been thrown to the sidelines of life and have been dragging a miserable existence for 21 years now. And the Bialowieza Agreement brought undoubted gain only to the West.