Why did Crimea’s parliament agree to join Ukraine in 1991?

Question

I'm reading Medea Benjamin's War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, which mentions that:

Crimea was transferred administratively from the Russian Soviet Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in 1954 after Nikita Khrushchev, who was from Ukraine, succeeded the late Josef Stalin as Soviet leader.

After the Ukrainian parliament voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, Crimea held a referendum in January 1991; more than 94 percent of its people voted for independence from Ukraine, and Crimea briefly became an Autonomous Soviet Republic within the U.S.S.R. But when the Soviet Union finally broke up later that year, Crimea’s parliament agreed to join Ukraine, overriding the expressed will of the large majority of its people, until the issue came to the fore again in 2014.

What were the circumstances that made Crimea’s parliament agree to join Ukraine although it was against the will of the majority (questioning also if this was really the case) of the people?

Answer 1

The quoted text and the Wikipage page you linked to do not seem to agree on the meaning of the referendum, and the book (and your question) are definitely wrong on "Crimea joining Ukraine" in 1991.

Wikipedia tells us:

The Crimean ASSR was originally created in 1921, as part of the Russian SFSR in the Soviet Union. Crimea was invaded by Nazi Germany during World War II, and when the region was reclaimed by the USSR in 1944, the Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups were deported to Central Asia, and the ASSR was dissolved in 1945 with Crimea becoming an oblast of the Russian SSR. On 5 February 1954, it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. During the collapse of the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s, the Russian SFSR declared itself sovereign on 12 June 1990 and the Ukrainian SSR declared itself sovereign on 16 July 1990.

In September 1990, the Soviet of People's Deputies of the Crimean Oblast called for the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic together with the previous level of autonomy that the peninsula had enjoyed under the ASSR.

So they tell us:

• 1921 - WW II: Crimea was an ASSR within the Russian SFSR
• WW II: invaded by Nazi Germany
• 1945 - 1954: Crimea was an Oblast in the Russian SSR
• 1954 - 1990: Crimea was an Oblast in the Ukrainian SSR

So the question is not whether they wanted to be part of Russia or of Ukraine or of any other SSR or altogether independent, but rather whether they wanted to remain an Oblast within an SSR, or become an ASSR within an SSR. Since they were already part of the Ukrainian SSR, that means switching from an Oblast in Ukraine to an ASSR within Ukraine. There's no mention of becoming independent from Ukraine, just gaining the "Autonomous" status within Ukraine (of course the ultimate goal could have been independence, but that was not what was explicitly expressed at this point).

And so that's what the Ukrainian (not Crimean) parliament (reluctantly, apparently) did after the referendum: exactly what the people voted for.

The Crimean Parliament later "declared the state sovereignty of Crimea as a constituent part of Ukraine". But that's not "joining Ukraine" (they were already part of Ukraine for decades), that's just going one notch further in their autonomy (normally declaring state sovereignty would be a claim for independence, but they still decided to remain "a constituent part of Ukraine).

The book makes it appear as a referendum on independence, when it definitely wasn't (it was a move in that direction, sure, but it wasn't independence). Autonomy and independence are quite different things (ask Catalonia or Scotland).

I hope the rest of the book is better, but given the synopsis...

Answer 2

Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republics (ASSRs) belong to Soviet Republics (SSRs). There is no precedent that I know of that an ASSR would be a top-level entity within USSR.

So what they've voted in is becoming an ASSR within Ukrainian SSR, which turned into the Autonomous Republic of Crimea inside Ukraine.

I don't see any way there to treat Crimea as ASSR inside Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, e.g. Russia) in context of this referendum, even though that's where it was before WWII I also don't see any ASSRs becoming independent states, even though one of the USSR decrees would permit it.

Answer 3

The 1991 referendum was definitely an independence referendum. As the Wikipedia article on it says:

The referendum did not just call for the restoration for the ASSR, but further called for Crimea to be a participant in the New Union Treaty – an ultimately futile attempt by Mikhail Gorbachev to reconstitute the USSR. This would have meant that Crimea would have been a sovereign subject of the renewed USSR[10] and separate from the Ukrainian SSR (emphasis mine).

Crimeans plans were to establish themselves as an independent, sovereign state, and they chose the path of least resistance they saw: becoming an ASSR, joining the New Union Treaty and establish their independence. The fall of the Soviet Union before the New Union Treaty could materialize left them in a limbo, caught in the step 1 of the process - becoming an ASSR - without a way to make it into step 2.

With the fall of the Soviet Union later that year, Ukraine accepted Crimea's new name, but not its status. So Crimea could call itself "autonomous", but it wasn't. Ukraine called a referendum to declare itself independent, but approval was low in Crimea. In May 1992, Crimea's parliament then declared independence from Ukraine, but Kiev's authority called that decision illegal. Again, Crimea's parliament decided to postpone the referendum that should ratificate the decision - but they didn't cancel it.

In 1994, they ran another referendum of independence, and this time they went ahead despite Ukraine's wishes - Ukraine was suffering the economic collapse of all ex-soviet republics, and had been stripped of its nuclear weapons, so they probably thought they couldn't afford a military operation. The 1994 referendum asked for Crimeans to have dual ukrainian/russian citizenship, President of Crimea's decrees having status of law and relationship between Crimea and Ukraine to be defined in a Treaty - so, de facto independence, even if Ukraine wanted to keep considering Crimea as part of Ukraine. The three questions were aproved by solid majorities - even if the USSR didn't exist anymore.

The situation deteriorated rapidly, with Crimean authorities creating state agencies and infrastructures as if they were actually sovereign, until Ukraine sent the army in.

The situation became so threatening that the Ukrainian authorities were forced to take decisive measures to restore Ukrainian sovereignty on the peninsula. In March 1995, the Ukrainian Parliament abolished the Crimean Constitution and the office of the President of Crimea. Soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine and Ukrainian special forces were transferred to the peninsula.

All in all, Crimea staying in Ukraine despite wanting to be independent is not different from Ukraine voting that ukrainian laws have precedence over soviet laws, but not outright declaring independence back in 1990. Declaring independence of a part of the country is usually met by a military response from the central government - it's not just that a powerful USRR would sent its tanks to Prague, it's that UK sent its army against Washington, and Lincoln sent the Union Army against the Confederates. When you're dealing with independence, cautious steps are sensible options. Ukraine only declared itself independent after the definitive collapse of the USSR, while Crimea's attempts of independence in 1991 and 1994 were ignored or crushed, and only the one in 2014 - with russian troops on the territory - went ahead.

Answer 4

The other two answer already hint at that but maybe one should mention the distinction explicitly:

Apparently the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is a union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), which were prior to joining the union independent socialist countries that organized in the form of soviet republic. While an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) is somewhere below a Union Republic, but above an autonomous oblasts and the autonomous okrugs.

So as Alamar has mentioned those are not top-level members of the USSR, but rather nations wihin one of the existing SSRs. What cultural, administrative and political autonomies that actually entailed could vary drastically depending on the era. One important feature of that "autonomous" part however is that these regions can not leave the union on their own, but only as part of their host country. Though if they wish to remain after the independence of their host country they could chose to do that.

Also Crimea's status and history as a region, country, nation and whatnot has changed quite a bit over time. Like ignoring the early history, the Kievan Rus, the Mongol conquest, a Crimean Tatar state that apparently lasted more than 300 years before it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Empire beaten the Ottoman Empire and it became a politically independent Tatar state again but as Russia wanted that Black Sea access they were annexed shortly after. Then the revolution happened and Crimea's status changed wildly:

• Crimean People's Republic December 1917 – January 1918 Crimean Tatar government
• Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic 19 March – 30 April 1918 Bolshevik government
• Ukrainian State May – June 1918
• First Crimean Regional Government 25 June – 25 November 1918 German puppet state under Lipka Tatar General Maciej (Suleyman) Sulkiewicz
• Second Crimean Regional Government November 1918 – April 1919 Anti-Bolshevik government under Crimean Karaite former Kadet member Solomon Krym
• Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic 2 April – June 1919 Bolshevik government
• South Russian Government February – April 1920 Government of White movement's General Anton Denikin
• Government of South Russia April (officially, 16 August) – 16 November 1920 Government of White movement's General Pyotr Wrangel
• Bolshevik revolutionary committee government November 1920 – 18 October 1921 Bolshevik government under Béla Kun (until 20 February 1921), then Mikhail Poliakov
• Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic 18 October 1921 – 30 June 1945 Autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR

Then it was conquered by the Nazis in WWII and after the Soviet Union regained control over the territory they deported the Tartars elsewhere within the USSR so that they can demote Crimea from an ASSR to an oblast within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Which then was in 1954 was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR on the 300th anniversary of a union of Russia and Ukraine:

The territory had been recognized within the Soviet Union as having "close ties" to the Ukrainian SSR, and the transfer commemorated the Union of Russia and Ukraine Tercentenary. Wiki

Also apparently Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev was from Ukraine. And it remained an Oblast of Ukraine until 1991. However when the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR left the Union, the Crimean Oblast asked for the restoration of it's ASSR status which is the subject of that referendum and also for a Union Republic status within the New Union Treaty. Which, if it would have that had come to exist, would have meant that Crimea would have been an independent country separate from Ukraine.

So Crimea didn't so much join Ukraine but remained within Ukraine. Also that's too simplistic as well. As the Crimean ASSR then transformed into the Republic of Crimea, which actually declare it's independence as a sovereign country, but a day later specified for that state to be in a union between Crimea and Ukraine as basically a federation of 2. Scheduling a referendum which Ukraine was not too fond of and which never actually happened and so they struggled for some years to figure out their exact status and relation to each other.

With apparently a noteworthy encounter in 1995 when a pro-Russian president was elected in Crimea who received a boost from a referendum for more autonomy, yet who managed to run into conflict with the Crimean parliament, who then downgraded him from head of state to head of the executive branch, upon which that president disbanded parliament and apparently attempting a power grab. Upon which Ukraine intervened, appointed a new president, abolished the constitution and the laws in conflict with the Ukrainian constitution, downgraded the status of Crimea and put the former president on a plane to Moscow.

And after period of full control by Kyiv Crimea again became an Autonomous Republic and got a new constitution in 1998.

Meanwhile after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia decided that the 1954 transfer was a mistake and also wanted Crimea back though that apparently was settled for some time with a special status for the city of Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet and affirmed the lack of a claim of Crimea and the territorial integrity of Ukraine (including Crimea) in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994.

So yeah the relation of Crimea, Russia and Ukraine and it's status as independent, associated, incorporated, dependent, occupied, self-governed and whatnot is quite complicated. Though with all the quests for independence and autonomy it's quite odd that within Russia, Crimea currently doesn't even have the status of an Oblast anymore but was downgraded to a part of the southern district.