Chapter 8 of the Constitution of the USSR of 1991

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If you want a better understanding of what’s going on in former Soviet Republics like Ukraine or Belarus, you may want to have a look at the Constitution as it was in 1991.

The full length original of the constitution in Russian is here. The following is an excerpt of Chapter 8, which is the most pertinent one regarding the territory of the USSR:

Which translates in English as (according to Google, with some corrections by me marked by ~~strikethrough~~ of original and bold replacement):

Chapter 8. USSR – Union State
Article 70. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a single union multinational state formed on the basis of the principle of socialist federalism, as a result of the free self-determination of nations and the voluntary unification of equal Soviet Socialist Republics.
The USSR ~~personifies~~ embodies the state unity of the Soviet people, rallies all nations and nationalities for the purpose of building communism together.
Article 71. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics the following are united:
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic,
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic,
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic,
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic,
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic,
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Article 72. Each union republic retains the right of free secession from the USSR.
Article 73. Subject to the jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics represented by its highest bodies of state power and administration shall be ~~subject to~~:
1) the acceptance of new republics into the USSR; approval of the formation of new autonomous republics and autonomous regions within the union republics;
2) determination of the state border of the USSR and approval of changes in the borders between the union republics;
3) establishment of the general principles of organization and activity of republican and local bodies of state power and administration;
4) ensuring the unity of legislative regulation throughout the territory of the USSR, establishing the foundations of the legislation of the USSR and the union republics;
5) pursuing a unified social and economic policy, managing the country’s economy; determination of the main directions of scientific and technological progress and general measures for the rational use and protection of natural resources; development and approval of state plans for the economic and social development of the USSR, approval of reports on their implementation;
6) development and approval of the unified state budget of the USSR, approval of the report on its implementation; management of a single monetary and credit system; the establishment of taxes and incomes for the formation of the USSR state budget; determination of the policy in the field of prices and wages;
7) management of sectors of the national economy, associations and enterprises of union subordination; general management of the branches of the Union-republican subordination;
8) issues of peace and war, protection of sovereignty, protection of state borders and territory of the USSR, organization of defense, leadership of the Armed Forces of the USSR;
9) ensuring state security;
10) representation of the USSR in international relations; relations of the USSR with foreign states and international organizations; establishment of a general order and coordination of relations between the Union republics with foreign states and international organizations; foreign trade and other types of foreign economic activity based on state monopoly;
11) control over the observance of the Constitution of the USSR and ensuring the compliance of the constitutions of the union republics with the Constitution of the USSR;
12) solution of other issues of all-Union significance.
Article 74. The laws of the USSR have the same force on the territory of all Union republics. In the event of a discrepancy between the law of a union republic and an all-union law, the law of the USSR shall apply.
Article 75. The territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is unified and includes the territories of the Union republics.
The sovereignty of the USSR extends to its entire territory.

It’s worthwhile to compare this to the timeline of events in the Soviet Union in 1991. Which I intend to to in a future post.
I am just putting out here now that, according to this constitution, most – if not all – actions of body of union republics have either dubious legitimacy or are downright illegal.
This gives rise to conflicts because you have different groups with different ideas and a general lack of legitimacy of the new “nations” which manifests itself in utter bellicosity against its neighbours to justify it’s own existence, permanent chaos, and outright dictatorship.

There’s even a line of thought that claims none of the republics had left the Soviet Union according to the law, thus the Soviet Union de iure still exists.

In future posts I am going to look at some of those new “nations” and former Soviet republics and their inner or outer conflicts.