Leaders of 11 of the 12 Soviet Republics made history on December 21 by signing agreements to proclaim a new Commonwealth of Independent States, signifying a formal end to the Soviet Union.
Leaders of all the republics, except Georgia, agreed on three key documents that would serve as the basis for the new Euro-Asian Commonwealth. The agreement was reached after five hours of talks at the House of Friendship in the Kazakh capital, Alma Ata.
“The Soviet Union has ceased to exist,” said a spokesman of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, briefing newsmen on the outcome of the talks. Nazarbayev, addressing a press conference later, said Russia would take the place of the USSR in the UN Security Council. He said the decision was taken jointly at the meeting, and a letter was being sent to the United Nations.
The leaders of the 11 republics decided there was no role for Gorbachev in the Commonwealth and took away the only power and job he still had by naming incumbent Soviet defence minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov commander-in-chief of the armed forces pending a final decision on the structure of the army.
They, however, assured Gorbachev that he would not be considered a criminal and that financial and other facilities needed for his well-being after he resigned would be provided. The protocol and other agreements would come into force from the moment of their ratification by the legislatures of the member states, Nazarbayev said.
The signing of the agreements dealt a severe blow to the tireless efforts of reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev to keep the republics under a new union treaty. A beaming Boris Yeltsin, the architect of the new Commonwealth, told reporters immediately after the summit that he was “very satisfied” with the talks.
The first documents, signed by the 11 republican leaders, recognised all partners as co-founders on an equal basis. The second document, called the Alma-Ata Declaration, recognises the independence of the 11 republics of the union and their current borders. The third agreement provides for a temporary military command till December 31, before which another meeting of the Commonwealth will be held to decide on a permanent arrangement.
There was no immediate comment from President Mikhail Gorbachev, who was not present at the meeting. Before the meeting, Yeltsin reiterated that Gorbachev should resign before the end of the year and retire “with dignity”.
“We respect Mr. Gorbachev, and we want him to resign smoothly in December, as he himself wants, and correspondingly today, we will discuss all the necessary honours,” Yeltsin said on arrival in Kazakhstan.
“I think the heads of state will determine all the necessary privileges and status from him,” he said. We’d like, in our civilised state, to have the president of the country, who had done a lot of good as well as made mistakes, depart with dignity while we build the Commonwealth of Independent States,” Yeltsin said. Yeltsin said it would be the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution that a head of state has retired peacefully.
Yeltsin voiced optimism before heading into the meetings with the other republic leaders in the white-marble presidential palace overlooking Alma Ata, noting that only the southern republic of Georgia was absent.
“I am in a very good mood because everyone is here in Alma Ata,” he said at the airport. “They said it would be 10 (republics), and it’s 11. Practically everything is done. There will be an historic meeting to agree on a Commonwealth of Independent States.”
The 11 republics are Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine. Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan. Tadzhikistan, Kirgizia, Uzbekistan, Moldavia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mr Yeltsin also told reporters that there should be a single nuclear command. ”It’s very important that everything is under one single command, with one button, not four.”
Before the meeting, there were warnings of the tough road the former republics face even as they create a new structure after the Soviet Union was fatally weakened by the failed August coup. But the Tass news agency reported that the meetings had proceeded “very smoothly”, and the rapid agreement on the three documents was a further sign of that. Soviet defence minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, who also attended, is the leading candidate to head a Commonwealth Committee to coordinate the military.
