Interethnic Relations and Ethnic Tolerance in Ukraine.

Ukraine1.551.83**2.452.25**

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Tolerance of Ukrainians significantly decreased in the eastern and western (!) regions of Ukraine — regions most sensitive to interethnic relations between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. The same trend is characteristic of the southern region but because of a scattering of individual assessments these changes are statistically insignificant. These changes are, in our opinion, a lection of a disillusionment with the idea of national revival by way of isolationism and a greater orientation towards partnership with Russia.

The most significant rise in tolerance of ethnic Russians occurred in the central and southern regions of Ukraine. The Crimea and the southern region showed a drop in tolerance both of Ukrainians and ethnic Russians, which lects the aggravation of the problem of RussianUkrainian relations precisely in this region. Linguistic policy (specifically, demands to institute Russian as the second official language in the country) may be a factor which contributed to the aggravation of the problem.

Ukraine has a specific linguistic situation: there are important regional differences in the number of people using this or that language in everyday communication. Table 8 shows the data illustrating regional differences in the use of languages in everyday communication. Answers to the question “What language do you use for communication in your family?” were regarded as indicators of a perred language use.

Table 8

Regional peculiarities of perred language use in family communication

(May 1994; in percentage for each region)

Regions“What language do you use for communication in your family?”

Only UkrainianOnly RussianBoth, depending on circumstances

Kiev153946

The western region79516

The central region60832

The eastern region²Ç5335

The southern region224731

The Crimea48611

Ukraine373330

If on average in Ukraine the proportions of people who per to speak only Ukrainian or only Russian, as well as those who use both languages, are approximately the same, in each individual region one of the two languages is prevalent in family communication. In Kiev, almost half of its inhabitants use both languages. The central and especially western regions are mainly Ukrainianspeaking, while in the Crimea and in the eastern and southern regions Russian is obviously dominant. Theore, a hrefardline state language policy which stipulates that all official documents should be written in Ukrainian only cannot but evoke inner tension, especially in people who have a poor command of the only official language. Many people in these regions voted for Leonid Kuchma at the 1994 presidential election largely because his election program contained a promise to grant Russian the status of the second official language. Incidentally, orientation to strengthening economic ties with Russia was another important point in the program of the wouldbe president.The greater orientation of Ukraine’s population towards economic ties with Russia was brought about by improvements in Russia (as compared with Ukraine) in the two most important components of people’s living standards; higher average wages and a stronger currency unit (the purchasing power of the Russian rouble is higher in Ukraine than that of the Ukrainian coupon). It is precisely this factor which in our opinion played a decisive part in the electoral behaviour of the Central Left Bank subregion of Ukraine in the 1994 presidential elections. Under the present economic conditions in Ukraine, when wages cannot provide for a subsistence level, threequarters of Ukraine’s population (according to data of the sociological poll, conducted with the author’s participation in February 1991 by the sociological service of the Democratic Initiatives Centre), survive solely on products grown on personal plots of land attached to their houses (50% constantly, 25% periodically). Many people in the central region, especially in Left Bank Ukraine, per to sell products from their personal plots in Russia, because, as it has been noted, the purchasing power of the Russian rouble in Ukraine is higher than that of the Ukrainian coupon.

Thus, the major reason for the rise in national tolerance of ethnic Russians lies, in our opinion, in the better economic situation in Russia as compared with Ukraine.