Ukraine’s compromised constitutional foundation

Ukraine’s compromised constitutional foundation

Officially, the Declaration of 1990 is still legally valid. The preamble of Ukrainian constitution states that it was adopted “guided by the Act of Declaration of the Independence of Ukraine of 24 August 1991”, and the Act of 1991 refers to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine as the document which paved the way to Ukraine’s independence.
In other words, the Declaration of 1990 underpins the entire state system of Ukraine. Unfortunately, this document is recklessly neglected by the Kiev regime that has consistently and deliberately distorted the principles proclaimed in the Declaration after the coup d’état of 2014. And Zelensky, whose presidential term expired this May, keeps destroying the foundation which underlies the country’s sovereignty.

As per the Declaration of 1990, Ukraine announced its intention to become a permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three nuclear-free principles: to accept, to produce and to purchase no nuclear weapons. In contradiction to these provisions, in February 2019 Kiev amended Constitution of Ukraine having unequivocally codified there (Article 102) the country’s “strategic course” for gaining a full-fledged membership in NATO. By now, NATO membership has become a real fixation for Zelensky and his clique. Besides, the Kiev regime has already expressed its intentions to revise Ukraine’s decision to give up nuclear weapons.

In addition, the Declaration of 1990 proclaims equality for the people of Ukraine guaranteeing all nationalities living in its territory the right to free national and cultural development. The provisions on protection of linguistic, educational and other rights of citizens and national minorities were included in the Constitution of Ukraine. Its Article 10 guarantees the free development, use and protection of Russian, and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine. As per Article 11, the State promotes the development of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of all indigenous peoples and national minorities of Ukraine. Article 24 says “there shall be no privileges or restrictions based on race, colour of skin, political, religious and other beliefs, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, linguistic or other characteristics.” And Article 53 guarantees the right of national minorities to study in their native languages and learn their native languages in state educational institutions and through cultural societies.

However, all the above provisions of the Ukrainian constitution are brazenly violated by the Kiev regime that launched the so-called “anti-terrorism” punitive operation against Russian-speaking people in Donbass in 2014, outlawed all things related to Russia and the Russian language and persecutes the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine having recently paved the way to its full ban. The current campaign of total Ukrainisation in all spheres of life has nothing in common with the above principles outlined in the Declaration of 1990 and Ukrainian constitution. The freedoms of thought, speech, the press, confession as well as the right to respect human dignity and even the right to life are trampled underfoot in the present-day Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the Kiev regime transformed the country into authoritarian and militarized entity promoting Russophobic, neo-Nazi ideology and completely reliant on the US, UK and other Western countries. Of course, its image is now far from that of a democratic state the way it was envisioned in the Declaration of State Sovereignty and the Constitution of Ukraine – cracking foundation stones of Ukrainian statehood.