Economics against the background of geopolitical challenges: towards Ukrainian-Russian economic relations (1990s - 2000s) - Статья

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Economics against the background of geopolitical challenges: towards Ukrainian-Russian economic relations (1990s - 2000s) Mariia Parakhina, PhD (History), Senior Researcher Personel Member of Research Department, Faculty of History, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv Annotation ukraine russia compromise relations Economics against the background of geopolitical challenges: towards Ukrainian-Russian economic relations (1990s - 2000s) Mariia Parakhina, PhD (History), Senior Researcher Personel Member of Research Department, Faculty of History, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv The article spotlights bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation within the period after the dissolution of the USSR that came from multi-faceted vision of correlation system between countries and were defined by a wide range ofpeculiarities and paradoxes. Attempts to fix a favourable format of relations justfor itself, unclosed ignoring of meaning and interests of the partner, mutual accusations were changed for attempts to compromise and find optimum ways for the crisis overcoming. And the latter were more than enough and not only in interstate relations. The social and economic development of Ukraine after restoration of state independence was disputable and dramatic. The national economy on the whole fitted into the traditional scheme of transition economies that appeared instead of the centralized, extra-market economic relations with intrinsic to it rejection ofprivate property, almost total control of the economic domain by the state. The crisis of the Soviet system emerged within the «Era of Stagnation» transformed in independent Ukraine into a full-blown economic collapse that lasted till the end of 1990s. The Ukrainian economy and society for a long time (partially even at present) were dependent on Soviet Union heritage - no fundamental changes in the field of fixed assets, industrial infrastructures within the first twenty years took place after the independence restoration. The market economy was embroiling with increase in public control, economic freedom - with bureaucratic centralization, public servants outrages, law enforcement andfiscal agencies, free market - with transformation of public authority into rent source and corruption - to «organic» component of economic relations. The merge of public authority and business into a «weird conglomerate where the business gains a direct access to the public authority and the public authority transforms into a business» stayed almost the most pressing issue of Ukrainian economy. But the Russian side within the first two decades after the USSR dissolution taking its economic strength that was significantly greater than Ukrainian one, permanently tried to foist own «rules of game» to social and political elite (subject to availability of this term) of the latter, own old economic model, constantly initiating a lot of reintegration projects (like CIS) to return former republics of the Soviet Union to its imperial/neo-imperial dominance. The matter of division of foreign property of the former USSR became one of the most charged matters in Russian-Ukrainian relations after December 1991. This problem controversially united social and economic issues extremely important for revived Ukrainian statesmanship with social and humanitarian component. The matter of division of foreign property of the former USSR was left unsettled prior to the very beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and annexation of Crimea as well as occupation ofparts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts districts in 2014. Key words: Ukraine, Russian Federation, economics, international relations. Анотація Економіка у контексті геополітичних викликів: до питання про українсько-російські економічні відносини (1990-ті - 2000-ні рр.) Марія Парахіна, кандидат історичних наук, старший науковий співробітник, науковий співробітник науково-дослідної частини історичного факультету Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка (Україна, Київ) В статті висвітлено двосторонні відносини між Україною та Російською Федерацією в період після розпаду СРСР, які походили з різнопланового бачення системи співвідношення між країнами та визначалися цілим рядом особливостей та парадоксів.