Reflection on the Collapse of the Soviet Union
Keynote Roundtable
Friday, 31 March, Auditorium 17:30-19:00
Chair: Richard Sakwa (University of Kent)
Speakers: Gennady Burbulis (State Secretary of Russia, 1991-92)
Leonid Kravchuk (First President of Ukraine, 1991-94)
Stanlislau Shushkevich (First Head of State of Independent Belarus, 1991-94)
Panel organizer: Dr Ilya Permyakov and the PHENOMEN TRUST
We would like to thank the PHENOMEN TRUST for its generous support in organising this event.
Gennady Eduardovich Burbulis
(Russian: Геннадий Эдуардович Бурбулис; born August 4, 1945) is a Russian politician. A close associate of Boris Yeltsin, he held several high positions in the first Russian government, including Secretary of State, and was one of the drafters and signers of the Belavezha Accords on behalf of Russia. He was one of the most influential Russian political figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the main architects of Russian political and economic reform.
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk
(Ukrainian: Леонід Макарович Кравчук; born 10 January 1934) is a former Ukrainian politician and the first President of Ukraine, who served from 5 December 1991, until his resignation on 19 July 1994. He is also a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction. After a political crisis involving the President and the Prime Minister, Kravchuk resigned from the Presidency, but ran for a second term as President in 1994. He was defeated by his former Prime Minister, Leonid Kuchma, who served as President for two terms. After Kravchuk's presidency, he was active in Ukrainian politics, serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada and the leader of Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)'s parliamentary group (from 2002 to 2006). He is currently retired from politics.
Stanislau Stanislavavich Shushkevich
Belarusian: Станісла́ў Станісла́вавіч Шушке́віч Łacinka: Stanisłaŭ Stanisłavavič Šuškievič
Russian: Станисла́в Станисла́вович Шушке́вич
(Born December 15, 1934 in Minsk) is a Belarusian politician and scientist. From September 28, 1991 to January 26, 1994 he was the first leader and head of state of independent Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (Chairman of the Supreme Soviet - also chairman of Parliament). He supported free market and democratic reforms and played a key role in the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. As a scientist, he is a Corresponding Member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, Doctor in Physics and Mathematics, recipient of various state awards, professor, and the author and originator of textbooks and over 150 articles and 50 inventions.