Hopes for Russian democracy met harsh reality – Ex-MP Kendzior on Ukrainian diaspora in 1990s

He shared this in the program Vlasni Nazvy with Myroslava Barchuk (Proper Names with Myroslava Barchuk) – a series of conversations with Ukrainian and Western intellectuals, writers, artists, and human rights defenders, where current events and social phenomena are discussed, along with the historical context that shaped them. The project is jointly created by the Ukrainian PEN and Espreso TV.  

"When our committee in the Verkhovna Rada, as they say, just started its work, when we received information and an invitation about the Ukrainian diaspora, which had been scattered across the vast Soviet Union, finally preparing to unite into one powerful organization, of course, we formed a government-parliamentary delegation, as you’ve mentioned, a large delegation. And we went, not exaggerating, with certain hopes, because by 1993, the entire history with the GKChP [State Committee on the State of Emergency] was already behind us. There were very progressive and hopeful speeches and statements from the then-President of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin," recalls Kendzior.

According to him, against the backdrop of Yeltsin's promises of "living in friendship" between Russia and Ukraine and assurances that the crimes of the communist regime would not be repeated, the diaspora believed in Russian democracy.  

"We believed that this brotherhood with Russia would finally begin... Well, and somewhere we already knew, those of us with some political experience, what Russia was like, that changing Russia would be very, very difficult. But still, I thought, 'Well, that's it, the Ukrainian community has decided to unite.' From the podium, they mentioned figures, with some saying 15 million, and even the figure of 20 million was heard. And we understand that even if it’s 20 million, no one can really count them, and not everyone acknowledged their historical Ukrainian roots. So, uniting 20 million or 15 million, or even 10 million..." said the public figure.  

"However many there were, uniting them all into one community, and making it come alive – that was the goal. If we had that kind of support from our Ukrainian community within the Russian Federation, then the Kremlin wouldn’t have been able to do everything it wanted, because it would have understood that within their state, there was a powerful argument, like the Ukrainian diaspora. And we traveled with certain hopes. But very quickly, those seeds of hope were absolutely destroyed," Kendzior added.