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In all likelihood glasnost and perestroika will not change the fundamental structure and character of the Soviet Union; but together they have provided a certain opportunity for dissident voices to be heard. All sorts of groups and individuals have come forward with complaints and demands. Among the most impassioned of these voices have been those of the Soviet Union’s non-Russian national minorities—Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Tatars, Kazakhs. To cite just one example, Vyacheslav Chornovil, a Ukrainian writer back from exile in Siberia, wrote an “Open Letter” to Mikhail Gorbachev referring to him as an “inhibited dissident.” Chornovil asks for truly radical reforms, not only in the area of economics but in cultural policy toward non-Russian nationalities within the USSR and toward the Christian churches.

Christian Armenians and Moslem Azerbaijanis struggling for control over an Armenian enclave in the heart of Azerbaijan have been much in the news lately. But little has been said about one of the most interesting Soviet “constituent republics”—Chornovil’s nation, Ukraine.

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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

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In all likelihood glasnost and perestroika will not change the fundamental structure and character of the Soviet Union; but together they have provided a certain opportunity for dissident voices to be heard. All sorts of groups and individuals have come forward with complaints and demands. Among the most impassioned of these voices have been those of the Soviet Union’s non-Russian national minorities—Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Tatars, Kazakhs. To cite just one example, Vyacheslav Chornovil, a Ukrainian writer back from exile in Siberia, wrote an “Open Letter” to Mikhail Gorbachev referring to him as an “inhibited dissident.” Chornovil asks for truly radical reforms, not only in the area of economics but in cultural policy toward non-Russian nationalities within the USSR and toward the Christian churches.

Christian Armenians and Moslem Azerbaijanis struggling for control over an Armenian enclave in the heart of Azerbaijan have been much in the news lately. But little has been said about one of the most interesting Soviet “constituent republics”—Chornovil’s nation, Ukraine.