cullinane
7th December 2001, 21:07
AFP. 4 December 2001. Ten years on: independence a bumpy ride for
ex-Soviet republics.
BAKU -- If the ten years since the end of Communist rule have been
tumultuous for Russia, for the 14 republics that were its junior
partners in the Soviet Union, they have been worse.
When the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on Dec 8 1991, these
satellite republics won the right to self-determination, which many of
their citizens had for years secretly craved.
But they have paid a high price for it: cut adrift in a hostile world,
without the economic support from Moscow they depended on to survive,
and with a host of problems stored up during Soviet rule.
A decade on, the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania stand
out as the only clear winners. They are stable, in rude economic health
and knocking on the door of the European Union and NATO.
However for the rest, the post-Soviet reality has been one of economic
meltdown, bloody wars, civil strife, dictatorial regimes and being
caught in a tug-of-war between rival geopolitical masters.
Independence opened up a Pandora's Box of ethnic and tribal disputes,
the result of which was four major conflicts in the republics outside
Russia.
Civil war in Tajikistan, a conflict between Moldova and Russia over
Transdnestr, Armenia and Azerbaijan's war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Georgia's fight against Abkhaz separatists cost thousands of lives and
continue to blight the economies of the countries involved.
The conflict in Abkhazia is dragging on and now threatens to shatter
Georgia's already brittle relations with Russia while the fall-out is
turning the country into a no-go area for foreign aid and investment.
On the economic front, the ex-Soviet republics went through the same
agonies of market reform as Russia, made worse because many lacked
Russia's natural resources and none had the huge internal market to
sustain them.
Ambitious plans to create a free-trade zone out of the ruins of the
Soviet Union could have helped, but bickering meant they came to
nothing.
"We used to have a ready market for our goods in the Soviet Union," said
Adil, director of a privatised factory making electrical goods in
Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.
"But now all those economic ties are broken and yet we can't export
anywhere else because no one trusts our goods."
Those with their own reserves of oil and gas -- Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan -- are enjoying some prosperity, though
anecdotal evidence suggests much of the oil wealth is pocketed by
corrupt elites.
For the rest, economic weakness means they still look to Russia for
handouts. The economies of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and
Armenia owe their survival to discounted supplies of gas from Russia.
Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, each to varying degrees, chose to
spurn market reforms.
Everywhere, democracy spluttered and fitted but failed to genuinely get
underway.
Elections throughout Central Asia, in Azerbaijan and Belarus have all
been condemned by Western monitors as far from fair.
Ukraine is in the dock over the murder of a journalist in which
government figures are implicated, while Central Asian states are
showing a disturbing disdain for human rights.
"I thought I'd be able to retire when Communism ended," said Mikhail
Ardzinov, a human rights activist in Uzbekistan who started out as a
Soviet dissident.
"But if anything, things have got worse."
ex-Soviet republics.
BAKU -- If the ten years since the end of Communist rule have been
tumultuous for Russia, for the 14 republics that were its junior
partners in the Soviet Union, they have been worse.
When the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on Dec 8 1991, these
satellite republics won the right to self-determination, which many of
their citizens had for years secretly craved.
But they have paid a high price for it: cut adrift in a hostile world,
without the economic support from Moscow they depended on to survive,
and with a host of problems stored up during Soviet rule.
A decade on, the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania stand
out as the only clear winners. They are stable, in rude economic health
and knocking on the door of the European Union and NATO.
However for the rest, the post-Soviet reality has been one of economic
meltdown, bloody wars, civil strife, dictatorial regimes and being
caught in a tug-of-war between rival geopolitical masters.
Independence opened up a Pandora's Box of ethnic and tribal disputes,
the result of which was four major conflicts in the republics outside
Russia.
Civil war in Tajikistan, a conflict between Moldova and Russia over
Transdnestr, Armenia and Azerbaijan's war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Georgia's fight against Abkhaz separatists cost thousands of lives and
continue to blight the economies of the countries involved.
The conflict in Abkhazia is dragging on and now threatens to shatter
Georgia's already brittle relations with Russia while the fall-out is
turning the country into a no-go area for foreign aid and investment.
On the economic front, the ex-Soviet republics went through the same
agonies of market reform as Russia, made worse because many lacked
Russia's natural resources and none had the huge internal market to
sustain them.
Ambitious plans to create a free-trade zone out of the ruins of the
Soviet Union could have helped, but bickering meant they came to
nothing.
"We used to have a ready market for our goods in the Soviet Union," said
Adil, director of a privatised factory making electrical goods in
Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.
"But now all those economic ties are broken and yet we can't export
anywhere else because no one trusts our goods."
Those with their own reserves of oil and gas -- Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan -- are enjoying some prosperity, though
anecdotal evidence suggests much of the oil wealth is pocketed by
corrupt elites.
For the rest, economic weakness means they still look to Russia for
handouts. The economies of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and
Armenia owe their survival to discounted supplies of gas from Russia.
Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, each to varying degrees, chose to
spurn market reforms.
Everywhere, democracy spluttered and fitted but failed to genuinely get
underway.
Elections throughout Central Asia, in Azerbaijan and Belarus have all
been condemned by Western monitors as far from fair.
Ukraine is in the dock over the murder of a journalist in which
government figures are implicated, while Central Asian states are
showing a disturbing disdain for human rights.
"I thought I'd be able to retire when Communism ended," said Mikhail
Ardzinov, a human rights activist in Uzbekistan who started out as a
Soviet dissident.
"But if anything, things have got worse."