Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency translation, dated 5 November 1990, reproduces the first part of a Literaturnaya Gazeta article by S. Kiselev published on 31 October 1990. It describes the political situation in Lugansk, where a conservative oblast soviet backed by the Communist Party was in conflict with a democratic city soviet. It also covers public distrust of the CPSU, ethnic and labor tensions, and growing calls for territorial autonomy or a move to RSFSR jurisdiction. The text mentions a UFO only as a figure of speech.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
UNCLAS 3T THE OBLAST PARTY COMMITTEE SENT INSTRUCTIONS TO THE VUZ ((HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION)) PROPAGANDISTS: GIVE BATTLE TO SELYUNIN DURING HIS SPEECH AS SOMEONE WHO IS ATTEMPTING TO DESTABILIZE THE SITUATION IN LUGANSK. AND SOMEONE TRIED TO GIVE BATTLE. IN GENERAL, IT COULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE TO THINK THAT EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IN LUGANSK IS OCCURRING IN ALMOST THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, IF IT WERE NOT FOR ONE FEATURE. SOMEWHERE, ABOUT HALF A YEAR AGO SUDDENLY, LITERALLY LIKE A UFO, THERE BEGAN TO APPEAR, WELL, HOW CAN THIS BE PUT, NOT QUITE RUMORS, NOT EVEN CONVERSATIONS, BUT SOMETHING SOMEWHAT TELEPATHIC, A KIND OF TRANSMISSION OF IDEAS OVER A DISTANCE. WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE THE IDEAS WERE BEING TRANSMITTED FROM, BUT THEIR GIST SOON BEGAN TO BE KNOWN RATHER WIDELY: AUTONOMY. AND THEN IT WAS IN WHISPERS: AUTONOMY. AND THEN IN A LOUD VOICE AMONG OUR OWN: AUTONOMY. TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY. THIS SPLASHED OUT ONTO THE STREETS. IT WAS SUDDENLY RECALLED IN LUGANSK THAT THE DONETSK-KRIVOROG SOVIET REPUBLIC, HEADED BY ARTEM (F.A. SERGEYEV), EXISTED IN 1918, AND THAT ON THE LAWS OF FEDERATION, IT LEFT THE UKRAINE FOR RUSSIA. IT WAS ARTIFICIALLY CREATED BY THE BOLSHEVIKS (THE CONGRESS THAT APPROVED THIS DECISION CONSISTED OF 74 DELEGATES), WHO NAIVELY SUPPOSED THAT THIS WOULD SAVE THE REGION FROM THE INFLUENCE OF THE CENTRAL RADA AND WOULD PREVENT GERMAN OCCUPATION OF THE DONBAS. THE REPUBLIC LASTED FROM 30 JANUARY TO 19 MARCH 1918, AFTER WHICH IT ONCE AGAIN BECAME PART OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE UKRAINE AS A TERRITORIAL-PRODUCTION AUTONOMY. AND SO TODAY IN LUGANSK TALK HAS ONCE AGAIN STARTED ABOUT THE RESTORATION OF THE DONETSK-KRIVOYROG REPUBLIC, AND, ABOVE ALL, ABOUT TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY WITHIN THE RSFSR ((RUSSIAN SOVIET FEDERATED SOCIALIST REPUBLIC)) SYSTEM. NOW, WHY THIS? PERHAPS THE FACT THAT LUGANSK OBLAST, IN FACT, BOYCOTTED THE DECISION OF THE UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT ON THE SWITCH TO KIEV TIME (THE TIME HERE AS, BY THE WAY, IN THE CRIMEA, HAS REMAINED MOSCOW TIME), AND THAT IT WAS A PRECURSOR OF THE FACT THAT LUGANSK IS SEPARATING?... "HISTORICALLY, THE DONBAS WAS NEVER A PART OF THE UKRAINE," EXPLAINED V. CHEKER, HEAD OF THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF THE LUGANSK AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE AND THE COCHAIRMAN OF THE SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION "PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT OF THE LUGANSK AREA FOR PERESTROYKA (THIS MOVEMENT WAS ESTABLISHED APPROXIMATELY ABOUT A YEAR AGO TO COUNTERBALANCE RUKH). "THEREFORE, WE ARE AGAINST THE UKRAINIZATION OF OUR REGION, AND WE THINK THAT GRANTING THE DONBAS A NEW ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL STATUS WOULD BE WARRANTED. OUR MOVEMENT IS FOR AUTONOMY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE UKRAINE, OF COURSE, IF THE REPUBLIC SIGNS A UNION TREATY. AND IF THIS DOES NOT OCCUR, THEN WE CAN TALK ONLY ABOUT A CHANGE TO RSFSR JURISDICTION." "BUT HOW IN YOUR OPINION WILL THE RESIDENTS OF LUGANSK OBLAST "BUT HOW IN YOUR OPINION WILL THE RESIDENTS OF LUGANSK OBLAS FEEL ABOUT THIS?" WE INQUIRED. "I THINK THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THE LUGANSK RESIDENTS WILL SUPPORT THE IDEA OF AUTONOMY WITHIN THE RSFSR SYSTEM. BUT HERE IS THE OPINION OF YU. KOZOVSKIY, A LEADER IN THE KRAY ORGANIZATION OF RUKH AND AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF THE LUGANSK TEACHERS' TRAINING INSTITUTE: (MORE) 05/1607Z NOV UNCLAS 3T BT
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.